Daughter Of Time
by GaleSynch
Summary: AU: Fem!Percy. Wouldn't things be more interesting and more dramatic if Percy is the daughter of Kronos? Torn between loyalty to her father or saving the world. Apollo/Percy. Jason/Percy.
1. I

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter One: Her Story. The Start Of It All.**

* * *

No one can choose who they want to be. If one can choose, Percy was sure that no one would want to be a half-blood. Being a demi-god is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. Being a demi-titan is even worse. Between the former and latter choices, Percy would've chosen the former in a heartbeat. But, too bad she can't choose at all.

Her name is Percy Jackson. And this is her story.

It was suppose to be a harmless school field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. Not something that could very well cost Percy her life. Most Yancy field trips were torture; but this time, it was life-threatening.

Percy held hopes that this field trip would be interesting because, , her Latin teacher was leading this trip, so she was hopeful. Mr. Brunner was middle-aged man in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. Unlike, her other teachers, was the only teacher that didn't bored her to death with classes.

On the bus, Percy had the misfortune of sitting in front of Nancy Bobofit—a kleptomaniac girl that absolutely loathed Percy for petty reasons—main reason was Percy's molten gold eyes. Sitting beside Percy was a boy named Grover Underwood. She had only spoken to him on various occasions. But she had caught sight of him constantly spying on her. He was someone easy to bully and Nancy knew that. Which was why she's chucking peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich at the back of his head.

Percy tried her best to ignore them. But they were both annoying. When the bus stopped, she was one of the first few out of the bus. Even on her death bed, she would never admit—for the sake of her pride more than anything— that she was trying to run from those two.

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. As they walked, he spouted facts about this and that. Percy was quite interested and she paid full attention to what he was saying. But, as always, Nancy Bobofit loved disrupting her.

"Will you _shut up_?" Percy spat, turning on the redheaded girl. It came out louder than Percy had meant to. But she couldn't do anything to change it. It wasn't like she could turn back time. What was that odd chill that ran down her spine just then?

"Ms. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said coolly. "Is something you need?"

Percy gritted her teeth in anger. "No, sir." She said, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?

Blinking, Percy turned to see what her teacher was pointing at. A shudder went down her spin when she identified what it was. Her throat felt dry all of a sudden. "That's...Kronos eating his children..." She said quietly.

"Yes," Mr. Brunner didn't sound satisfied. He looked at Percy, silently imploring her to elaborate. "And he did this because...?"

"Kronos was the King Titan and..." Percy wracked her brain, trying to remember. It didn't take long for her to find the information she wanted. She sent a silent thanks to her mother who loved telling her stories about Titans when they once ruled the world. Or so she says, Percy could never comprehend why she talked about them as if they were real. "And...he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brother and sisters—"

A girl squealed behind him. "Ew!"

"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, and the gods won." Percy finished as if she was never once interrupted. It left a bitter taste in her mouth when she told the tale of the Titans losing to the gods.

"Like we're gong to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids'." Nancy Bobofit mumbled. Percy, having excellent hearing, heard her every word. She gritted her teeth in anger—oh, how she wanted to hurl the girl a hundred yards through the place.

"And why, Ms. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered.

"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face appearing even brighter red than her stringy hair.

Percy thought for a long moment before answering, "I don't know, sir."

Brunner, looking disappointed, continued to elaborate on the story of the first Titan War until it was time for lunch. Percy lingered for a moment, studying the carving of Kronos eating his children before she turned to leave once she noticed the others had already left for lunch.

"Ms. Jackson." Slowly, Percy turned to see that it was Mr. Brunner that had called her. She hesitated for a brief moment, her gaze absently turned to the carving of Kronos. Oddly, she felt a surge of confidence once she laid eyes on it. She turned back to Brunner, her gaze defiant.

"Sir?" Percy acknowledged him with a soft voice. She felt slightly unnnerved at the look Brunner gave her. Intense brown eyes that could have been a thousand years old and had seen everything.

"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner said after a moment of analyzing Percy.

"About the Titans?" Percy didn't know why that was the first thing that came to mind.

"About real life. And how your studies apply to it." The man corrected.

"Oh."

"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."

Percy nodded sharply and curtly. Brunner dismissed Percy absent-mindedly while he looked at the stele as if he had been to the girl's funeral. Percy ignored him and walked out of the museum. She spotted Grover sitting on the museum stairs, along a fountain. The spot was perfect: it was sheltered, and far enough from the rest of Yancy's students. Sighing, she walked towards him. Grover wasn't so bad, not like the other kids in class. So she could tolerate him.

Grover didn't say anything as she sat beside him. She thanked every god she knew that Grover didn't try to start small talk with her. His nervous behavior got under her skin sometimes.

Grover, having had enough of the tense silence, was finishing up the rest of his lunch as he asked, "Detention?"

"Nah," Percy shrugged, "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."

"Can I have your apple?" Grover asked, changing the subject completely.

"I have dyslexia and ADHD. It's not like I can memorize the names of the gods, and heroes, and Titans, and all that junk. He always pushes me so hard. More than anyone else." Percy complained, pouting childishly.

Just as Percy started to unwrap her sandwich, a lunch had landed itself on Grover's lap, some of its crumb landing itself on her jeans. Percy's golden eyes darkened as she saw who did it. Nancy cackled along with her friends, "Oops."

"Watch where you're spillin' your shit." Percy spat angrily. She had never had the best temper. It was a wonder her mother could put up with her. Her temper was inherited from her father, her mother said—she looked a lot like him (with her golden eyes and brown-blonde-ish hair) and acted like him too.

That only served to make Nancy laugh harder. Percy's mind blank out; her veins ran cold; her golden eyes blazed as a wave roared in her ears. Then, she blinked. She didn't touch the other girl and yet...she was sitting in the fountain, spluttering mad.

Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"

"—the water—"

"—like it grabbed her—"

Mrs. Dodds, the other chaperoene teacher materialized out of nowhere. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, , Mrs. Dodds turned on Percy. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if Percy had done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"

"I know," the girl grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds nearly barked.

"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."

Percy looked at Grover in shock. She was not close to him at all and here he was, defending her as if he was her best friend.

Mrs. Dodds glared at Grover, "I don't think so, Mr. Underwood."

"But—"

"You—will—stay—here."

Grover's eyes had a desperate look in them; panic written all over his face.

"It's okay, man," Percy assured. "Thanks for trying."

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds rasped. "Now."

Grover cut his eyes between Brunner and Percy, as if wishing the teacher would notice, but he seemed to be too involved in his novel. What could Brunner possibly do to save her? Percy wondered. She turned her eyes back to Mrs. Dodds but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently for Percy to follow her.

_How'd she get there so fast?_—Percy blinked in confusion. She had quite a few moments like that, a time where her brain seemed to have fallen asleep and she would miss something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and the only thing left was the blank place behind it. The school counselor said once that this was part of the ADHD, the brain misinterpreting things.

Percy wasn't so sure it was that case this time.

Her chin held high, she followed her teacher.

* * *

**AN: Inspired by Urau's idea. So I've uploaded another new story, it's a weakness of mine. Having so many stories at once but I promise to try and keep update pace as equal as possible. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this story and review if you please. Tell me what you think.**


	2. II

**Author's Note: **_I know some of you are confused as to why Percy can control water even though she is the daughter of Kronos. But Percy needs the water powers in this story since Canon!Percy rely on it quite a lot. The reason will be explained soon. Anyways, enjoy!_

* * *

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Two: Time's Up. The Three Fates.**

* * *

Percy slowly edged her way to Mrs. Dodds who was already waiting for her deep in the museum. At first, she had assumed that the teacher would make her buy a new shirt for Nancy Bobofit But they passed right through the stall. Percy was starting to get a little suspicious and frightened. She tried to convince herself that the woman, as a teacher wouldn't hurt her.

Percy's jaw dropped when her teacher transformed. She had demanded inane things from Percy—things the girl could barely comprehend. She didn't steal anything; she just sold illegal stuff for money. Percy stared, stunned as Mrs. Dodds charged at her, talons ready to rip her to pieces. Percy snapped back to attention at the last second—she dodged to the side; the talons missing her and slicing the air.

"What ho—Percy!"

She whirled around in shock at the call of her name. What she saw baffled her even more than seeing Mrs. Dodds as a monster—Brunner wheeled his wheel-chair towards her, he stayed a good distance away though. He threw a pen into air, wanting Percy to catch it.

Dodging another swipe from her _no-longer-teacher_, Percy caught the pen. Only, when it landed in her hands did she realized it was no longer a pen—but a sword. It looked familiar because it wad the sword Brunner had used on tournament day.

Percy didn't have time to examine or admire the sword because her _teacher-turned-monster-that-want-to-kill-her_ flew straight at her. Absolute terror coursing through her body, she swung the blade. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. _Hisss!_

The monster exploded into yellow powder, leaving the smell of sulfur and the dying screech of rage and a chill of evil in the air. Her hands shaking, Percy looked down only to see a normal pen instead of the sword she was holding minutes earlier. She looked around but didn't see Brunner anywhere.

She slowly headed back to the entrance of the museum. It had started to rain and Percy was even more irritated. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head to shelter himself from the rain. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends.

Nancy stalked over to Percy when she spotted her. She sneered, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

Percy had no wish to act like an idiot—being clueless about someone that was supposed to be her teacher was considered as an idiot. She sneered right back in Nancy's face. "Unfortunately, she did not." She hissed. "Why don't you go screw yourself?"

Percy left the girl spluttering and headed towards Brunner. She didn't miss how Grover looked at her oddly relieved; she had a feeling that it wasn't because she got off unhurt with meeting her teacher. Mr. Brunner was sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

When he heard me approaching, he looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Ms. Jackson."

Percy hesitated before handing the pen over. "Sir?" She asked. "Where's Mrs. Dodds?"

Brunner stared blankly at the golden-eyed girl before him, carefully considering her before responding. "Who?"

Percy scowled, getting impatient. But she tried her best to get mad because she knew from experience that if she got mad, her eyes—which looked as if it was hazel in color under the sun or any lighting—would glow brighter, turrning into molten gold color or the color of embers. Anyone would be able to tell she wasn't normal then, she would undoubtedly stand out in a crowd.

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." Percy said as calmly as she could. Which wasn't very good, it came out as a growl.

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

Percy knew that certain battles are better not fought, talked about, or acknowledged in any way. She give talking to Mr. Brunner as a lost cause and left after reassuring her teacher that she was all right.

**AxP**

Percy was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. But this time, this hallucination lasted for the whole term. She had a really hard time not screaming—"Drop the act!"—and demanding answers that she was sure no one would give. Once in a blue moon, Percy would ask a student about Mrs. Dodds but no one knew her.

It got so she almost believed them that this Mrs. Dodds never existed. But Grover couldn't fool her. Percy found herself getting closer to Grover in this term and they often interacted—not hard seeing as they were in the same class. And she had asked him once about Mrs. Dodds.

Whenever she mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. Percy recognized the knowing look in his eyes. She'd seen it countless times before, when she had asked her mother about her father—back when she was fed up with her step-father's attitude. Her mother would hesitate before saying he had died in his imprisonment. Percy had a gut feeling telling her that her father was alive somewhere—but her gut-feeling didn't tell her where.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum but no one knew about it—those that knew were lying about it. The horrible freak weather continued, which didn't help Percy's mood in the slightest. She got cranky easily and got into fights with nearly everyone she talked to. Her grades slipped; she stopped doing school work. It didn't take long for the headmaster to sent her mother a letter, saying that Percy wouldn't be invited to Yancy Academy next year.

Final exams were coming up and Percy really didn't want to disappoint her mother and Mr. Brunner —the only teacher that put a lot of effort into educating her despite her horrible personality. Latin was the only test she studied hard for.

Percy breathed in and out heavily, trying to control her temper. Words had started swimming off the page, circling her head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. Percy got up and started pacing around the room. Unbidden, the memory of Brunner serious expression as he spoke—"I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."—and his intense, serious brown eyes surfaced.

She took a deep breath and picked up her mythology book that she had threw across the room in frustration. She had never asked a teacher for help before, her pride didn't allow her. Another thing inherited from her father, as her mother said.

Percy ignored her roommates bewildered stares and walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

Percy was just about to reach the door handle when she heard Grover's voice. Her curiosity wouldn't allow her to step back and wait for Grover to finish talking before she enter. She ended up eavesdropping on what they were saying. After all, she had the right to, they were talking about her.

"... worried about Percy, sir." Grover's voice was muffled because of the seperation. Percy inched closer to get a better hearing range.

"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing her," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the girl to mature more." Percy couldn't see his face but she could practically hear the frown in his words. "And Grover, we aren't even sure that her other parent is really _him_. The ability she showed at the field trip is disconcerting."

"But she may not have time. They assumed it was her because of her heritage and by the summer solstice dead line—"

"Will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her enjoy her ignorance while she still can."

"Sir, she saw her..."

"Her imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince her of that."

"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again."

Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"

Percy was so surprised that her grip on the mythology book loosened and the book fell onto the ground with a thud. Mr. Brunner went silent. Her heart hammering, Percy picked the book up and ran for it. She ran up the stairs as quick as she can—having been the star of her school's track team for three consecutive years (courtesy of her beloved parents pushing her into athletics), she managed to slip off unseen. But she swore she heard the sound hooves beating against the wooden ground. She was utterly baffled but she didn't stop to observe—_Why are there horses in the hallway?_

She opened the door to her dorm-room and slipped inside, slamming the door shut. She noticed that her roommate was already getting ready to sleep. Breathing a sigh of relief, she quickly changed and got ready for bed.

**AxP**

Coincidentally, Percy and Grover ended up riding the same bus towards the city. Percy suspected that there was some other motive but she didn't question it. If she asked and he evaded the question, she was sure to lash out at him and starting a fight in the bus wasn't something she should be doing.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. His nervous attitude struck a nerve and finally, she snapped.

"Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "What—what do you mean?"

Seeing no harm, Percy confessed about eavesdropping on his and Brunner's conversation.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh ... not much." Percy shrugged nonchalantly. "What's the summer solstice dead-line? And what do you mean by my other parent? Do you know my father or something?"

He flinched. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"

"Grover—"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were over-stressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."

His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."

Percy growled in frustration but she snatched the card from his hand anyways. She spared it a glance—_An address to Camp Half-Blood?_—before shoving it in her pocket. "Why would I need you?" She demanded.

Grover winced but didn't say anything, he looked down. The silence stretched until the bus stopped abruptly, accompanied by a loud grinding noise. An unpleasant smell wafted up the passengers noses as black smoke poured out of the dashboard. The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that everyone needed to get off so he can fix the bus properly. Cursing, Percy and Grover filled out of the bus with the others.

She took her time looking around. She blinked in disbelief when she spotted three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks she'd ever seen. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

Oddly, they were looking right at _her_. From her peripheral vision, she caught sight of Grover who looked as if he might start hyperventilating. The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. Percy stared, mesmerized, completely ignoring Grover who urged her to get on the bus before getting on himself.

A shudder rirocheted through her spine as she heard rather than saw the string of yarn being snip. At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered as if they're holidays had come.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Percy forced herself to follow though her whole body felt like lead. She gritted her teeth and commanded her legs to move. In his seat beside hers, Grover was shivering, his teeth chattering. She leaned her head on the window and closed her eyes, already feeling a migraine taking root in her head.

She can't wait to see her mother.

**AxP**


	3. III

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Three: Mother. Dream.**

* * *

Grover, Percy decided, was a freak and a stalker. The moment the vehicle reached its destination, she had left as quickly as possible. Grover was making her uncomfortable, with his looks that he gave her—which made him a freak.

The stalker part came when Percy caught him following her from the glass window of a shop. She lost him easily after choosing to thread through the crowd. Percy caught the first taxi she saw uptown. She tried to make herself as comfortable as possible in the dirty cab.

She comforted herself by thinking about her mother and grimaced slightly. Her mother, Sally Jackson, has the worst luck in the world. Her parents died when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.

The only good break she ever got was meeting Percy's father. Percy hummed softly as she thought about her father. She has no memories of that man, just this sort of warm glow, and maybe just the barest trace of his smile and the sensation of him holding her back when she was just a baby.

Sally rarely ever talks about him because it made her sad and she has no pictures. They never did marry. Percy's mother once told her that he went to Los Angeles and was imprisoned there, therefore, never returned. Not dead but imprisoned.

Percy blinked when she noticed that she had reached her destination. She paid the driver and got out of the car. She didn't forget to bring her suitcase of course.

**AxP**

Percy had hoped that her mother would greet her. But the one that greeted her was her step-father, Gabe Ugliano. He was doing what he usually did, laze around at home and gamble with his friends and making a mess of their small apartment of a house.

She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the smell that greeted her. She glared at Gabe no way was she going to think of him as her father—and head off to her room, simply daring the man to demand money of her. After what happened last time, she doubt it.

Percy slammed the door to her room shut. She dropped her suitcase onto the ground and took a deep breath. Her room was the only place not contaminated by Gabe's smell. Her good mood evaporated when she thought about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies and Grover's reaction to them.

"Percy?" Said girl turned around, just in time to see her mother walk in to her room. Her sparkle and change color in the light—just like her daughter's. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long auburn hair, but Percy'd never think of her as old. What Percy loved best about her mother was her eyes, bright sea-blue and her mother always gaze at her with endless kindness—as if she's looking at all the good things about her daughter and not the horrible record she got in her life.

They shared a hug and talked. Their mother-daughter time was interrupted when Gabe—the bastard—stormed into her room as if _he_ owned it. Percy recognized the look in her mother's eyes, it was a deal: Be nice to Gabe and they can leave as soon as possible for their vacation.

The one hour it took for them to get ready was the most excruciating experience in Percy's life. Mainly because she'd to deal with Gabe's gripping about losing her mother's services; and that she has to smell the man's foul scent.

**AxP**

Percy breathed in the scent of the sea, mood considerably better than before. She and her mother had been going there for as long as she can remember. Sally never mentioned it, but Percy knew that this place was where she met her father.

Mother and daughter chatted happily and walked around the beach once they were done cleaning out the cabin they rented. Percy watched as the sun set, mesmerized by its beauty. They started a fire once the sun fully set.

Percy eventually got the nerve to ask what was on her mind—her father. It took her quite a while, which surprise Percy herself. She was not a shy girl, only her mother can make her nervous as it was. Mother's eyes went all misty, Percy has no doubt that her mother would always tell her the same thing she always did when she asked but she never got tired of her stories.

"He was an arrogant man, Percy," Mother said. "Tall, handsome, powerful and quite cruel. But gentle too, at times when he wants to be. You have his dark hair, you know, and his gold eyes."

Mother fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."

A dyslexic, hyperactive girl with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years. What kind of father would be proud of something like that? Percy wasn't sure, but since her father was most likely rotting in jail, he couldn't be that much better than her either.

"How old was I?" Percy asked, fiddling with the end of her shirt. "I mean...when he left?"

Mother watched the flames, the flame reflected beautifully in her sea blue eyes. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."

"But... he knew me as a baby." Percy frowned.

"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."

Percy scowled as she tried to square that with the fact that she seemed to remember him...something about her father. A warm, powerful glow. A smile. His body warmth and the feeling of being in his arms.

Percy blinked slowly as she processed this new information. She had always thought he knew her as a baby. And to know that it wasn't true...wasn't a great sensation. Anger bubbled within her but she squashed it down and concentrated on what her mother was saying.

**AxP**

That night, Percy had a vivid dream.

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

Percy looked at the fissure that had formed on the ground. Eyes strained to see what was below. The presence that she felt emitting from there was familiar, one she felt when she was a babe but she couldn't place it. Percy looked up just in time to see the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes.

Percy woke with a start.

Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.

Mother woke up with the next thunderclap. "Hurricane..." She murmured.

That was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, Percy heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made the hair at the base of her neck stand on end.

Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on the cabin door. Mother opened the door. Grover stood in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain.

Mother looked at Percy in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.

"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"

Percy managed to gather her wits and gave a short summary of what had happened. Her gold eyes never leaving Grover. She complied, slightly dazed when her mother ordered them to head towards the car. They need to leave, she vaguely registered.

She was shell shocked but she managed to hid it well that the fact he wasn't human shocked her to the core. Where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.

She couldn't wait for the night to be over.

**AxP**


	4. IV

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Four: First Battle. Father.**

* * *

Percy gritted her teeth in anger and frustration. She turned her head to look at the half-bull-half man that was stupidly sniffing the car for people that weren't there. She turned her head to her other problem—Grover the dead weight. She couldn't comprehend why her mother want to save the satyr as well. And yes, she has accepted that she was a half-blood and the existence of Greeks.

"Go, Persephone!" Sally yelled. This was the first time Percy heard her mother yell her real name. So she couldn't bring herself to disobey her mother. "Do what I said you should do!"

Percy dislodged Grover's arm from her shoulder and ran for it. Predictably, the Minotaur went after her, charging full speed towards her. Percy didn't know how, but she could easily see the bull when others clearly couldn't...and the bull seemed to be running slow-motion toward her. No, Percy amended. Her mother who was still carrying Grover was also moving in slow motion. As if time itself has stopped.

Percy let out a startled yell and dived to her right when the time spell dispelled and the bull regained speed. "Aah..." She murmured as she inspected the scrap on her palm. The stinging pain increased when the rain beat onto it.

Hearing her mother's scream of pain, Percy turned just in time to see the bull choking her mother. Percy sat on the ground, shocked and terrified. When she tried to move, it felt as if someone had used a time-stop-spell on her instead—her body felt as if someone had put a ton of rocks on her, preventing her from moving.

Her golden eyes met her mother's pain-filled sea-blue eyes. "Go!" Her mother choked out. Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around her mother's neck, and she dissolved before her eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply...gone.

Percy screamed. One wordless howl full of anguish and hate. She couldn't see it, but her form and eyes glowed golden as hate bubbled within her. Energy suddenly coursing through her, Percy stood and charged the monster—who was hunched over Grover, ready to slaughter him as he did her mother.

Smelling her approaching, the Minotaur roared and turned towards her.

Time slowed down—

—Percy's legs tensed. She leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. Percy squeezed her eyes shut from the rocking and swaying world when the Minotaur struggled to get her of him. She held on for dear life, her body flailing all over the place. _So this is how fruit feels as it's being grinded up in the blender for a smoothie. I have a lot in common with that fruit right now—I'm probably about to be eaten, too_.

Luckily, Grover caused a distraction by moaning. The monster wheeled on him, ready to trample him. Percy wasn't exactly fond of Grover but that doesn't mean she didn't care. She wouldn't let the monster get to him.

Somehow, Percy managed to free one of my hands from the furry mass of hair that anchored her down. She grabbed on to one of its horns and pulled back. She gritted her teeth from the amount of effort that it was bound to take.

_SNAP!_

The horn was surprisingly easy to tear off—Percy blinked in disbelief but that doesn't meant she was going to complain. Unfortunately, Mr. Minotaur got even angrier and threw Percy off his back. She landed with a thud on the ground.

Percy didn't have time to register the pain before the Minotaur turned on her, his black eyes glaring, full of hate that couldn't compared to hers—the loss of her mother was still gnawing at the back of her mind and was fueling her. With a grunt, he charged.

Percy knelt on one knee, the horn in one hand, hoping that the horn can be used as a weapon.

He was ten feet away—

Five feet away—

_NOW!_ Percy shoved the horn into the monster's furry rib. He stopped and roared in agony, clawing at his chest as he began to disintegrate. It was almost like he was turning to sand, except nothing fell on the floor. Before long, the only thing left was the horn lying on the ground.

Percy slumped onto the ground, panting for breath. She wanted to curl up and cry but crying wouldn't help anyone and certainly wouldn't bring her mother back. She glared at Grover's unconscious form but she knew that she couldn't fully blame him.

She got up and walked towards him. Staring blankly down at him, Percy heaved a giant sigh. She grabbed Grover by the arm and started hauling him towards Camp, tears streaming down her cheeks.

**AxP**

Percy was in and out of consciousness for the past few days. She remembered a blonde haired girl feeding her something to eat. The girl tried to start a conversation but Percy was not in the mood to chat—Percy ended up glowering at the girl or anyone that she saw in her vision, really.

The death of her mother settled heavily on Percy's mind, refusing to leave her. And her dreams wasn't helping her mood either. Yes, she accepted that the Olympians existed but she wasn't quite ready to accept that she was related to them in any way, shape or form.

Percy's glare only intensified when Grover tried to apologize and admit his incompetence. "Your fault..." It had came out as a murmur first. But then, without knowing it, she had started screaming at him and was throttling him—she can't say she regret doing it though. The blonde girl—the one that had fed her—and a man with _more-than-a-pair-of-eyes_ heard the commotion and has separated them.

But they clearly couldn't outmatch an enraged Percy. Campers hearing the screams of help from the blonde girl and Grover came running and finally, with their help, managed to pull Percy away from Grover.

Percy breath heavily, glaring at the campers that had gathered—all who were looking at her wearily and fearfully. "What—"

"Percy." A familiar voice called her name. Said girl turned around, her eyes landed on a familiar man in a wheelchair. She idly noticed that the campers bowed respectfully to him.

"Mr. Brunner..." Percy murmured. Brunner merely nodded in return to the campers. He then turned to survey the scene—Percy and a few campers, all out of breath, eyes wild; Grover passed out in the blonde girl's arms.

"Percy and Annabeth as well, follow me." Brunner said, wheeling out of the room. Percy didn't really want to follow her teacher anywhere but it beats staying in the room where the campers were eyeing her as if she were the monster. She threw one withered glare at them before trailing after Brunner. The blonde girl, now identified as Annabeth followed after her.

Her ex-teacher led the two girls to the end of a porch. A pudgy man sat there, at a card table playing cards. Percy stared blankly at him, she was vaguely reminded of her step-father. The pudgy man looked up, his eyes wary and calculating.

"So you're the girl." The man snorted in disgust. "You look a lot like him, all right. And that tantrum you just threw? Definitely that bastard's daughter."

Percy's golden eyes hardened. "What do you mean by that?" She hissed. Annabeth looked mildly shocked that she was so rude to the pudgy man.

"That's Mr. D," Annabeth hissed. "He's the camp director. Be polite."

Percy snorted softly but gave no other indication that she heard the other girl. She looked at Brunner. "Mr. Brunner—"

"Chiron," Annabeth interjected.

Percy rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Fine. _Chiron_, care to explain?" She stressed the name, laced with sarcasm.

"How much do you know about yourself?" Chiron-Brunner answered Percy's question with another question. It invoked Percy's ire and frustration but she tried to not scream at him or demand answers.

Through gritted teeth, she replied. "That I'm a half-blood...Half-human and...half-god." Her voice grew weaker as she said the last part. She got the distinct impression she was only half-human but not half-god. And by how Mr. D snorted loudly in disbelief, he knew that too.

"Yeah, right." He said sarcastically.

"You're a god." Percy turned her attention towards him, eyes narrowed in disdain. Annabeth looked at her oddly, as if she couldn't believe Percy was still being rude to a god.

"Yes, child."

"A god. You." The stress of what had happened in the past week finally caught to her and Percy snapped. She threw her head back and laughed and laughed.

Percy's gaze locked with Dionysus' who's eyes now glowed fiery purple. She saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. Percy knew that if she pushed him, Mr. D wouldn't hesitate to show her worse things. He would plant a disease in her brain that would make her insane.

"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.

Sneering, Percy opened her mouth to reply but Chiron interrupted before things got even worse. "I believe you already know the basics, Percy. Annabeth will explain the rest, and speaking of that...Annabeth, will you show Percy around?"

Annabeth nodded stiffly and hauled Percy off before Dionysus can remember he wanted to blast her to bits. Percy's senses had always been higher than an average mortal. It wasn't a surprise that she caught snippets of the two men's conversation.

"—more and more like her father—" Chiron was saying and he sounded worried.

"—should have blasted her to pieces—" Dionysus retorted. "—save us trouble—"

Percy scowled as they moved out of earshot. She only paid half her mind to what Annabeth was saying. But the conversation about Olympus existing caught her attention. If that existed, Percy was sure that the Underworld did too. And if it did...

...She was going to get her mother back.

**AxP**

* * *

**A/N; Can anyone guess what does the golden glow means? **

**And I know Percy seemed OC compared to Canon-Percy. But she will change soon, her fatal flaw will still remain the same of course. She has a different father - one who's temper's horrible - and she's under a great deal of stress.**


	5. V

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Five: Game Of Death. Claimed.**

* * *

For the next few days, Percy has already settled into her new routine. It was almost normal. But her instructors weren't human so that image was out of the window already. Percy was sure she was emitting something that made other campers shy away from her. Or maybe they heard of how she nearly killed a satyr and wanted nothing to do with her. Wherever she went, there would always be someone pointing at her and whispering to their friends.

They smiled shakily at her and sometimes, acted as if she wasn't there at all. Only a few people were willing to communicate with her as if she was normal—normal in their terms. There was Chiron who taught her archery one-on-one after she had 'accidentally' nail a son of Apollo who dared to flirt with her in the ass. Her temporary cabin counselor, Luke Castellan taught her sword lessons, and was quite willing to show her around. He was her only companion, currently. Annabeth taught her Ancient Greek, and they chatted about the gods and goddesses.

All right, truth time: Percy mocked them and Annabeth defended them. But they always changed the topic before they got into a full blown argument. Annabeth probably knew she wasn't strong enough to take Percy on.

Percy was quite proud of her progress. Her swordsmanship was impressive, Luke said so. Foot racing was something she excelled at. But Percy had a sneaking suspicion that she somehow cheated without knowing—things had seemed to be in slow motion when she started running. And after running, she will feel horribly drained. Because this happened on the first day, she was forced quit the rest of her activities. This repeated on the next day until of course, on the second day some idiot—which she has thoroughly chewed out—spilled water on her and she was suddenly energized. It was as if the water renewed her energy—the drink that was spilled on her was normal mineral water.

There's also wrestling—the only one she ever lost to was the daughter of Ares, Clarisse. On the third day, Percy managed to beat her and ever since then, it would always be a wrestling match between the two of them.

Canoeing came naturally to her—as if she was attuned to the element water.

Percy caught murmurs that she might be a child of the Big Three—Zeus, for her bad temper; Poseidon for her water thingy. She was mildly surprised no one suspected Hades.

The only thing that dampened Percy's mood was that she hadn't been claimed. The 'death' of her mother was already settled—in her own mind, once she was well-trained, she would go to the Underworld and get her mother back. Every night, Percy always laid on the bed—she got the privilege once she beaten a son of Hermes in a game of cards; she manged to sneak a peak when time seemed to magically stopped again—and wondered who her immortal parent was.

When she strained her memory to remember, she only got what she usually get when she thought of her father: A warm feeling and a sort of smile from him. She was sure of it now, after she had heard from a daughter of Demeter that her mother—the goddess herself—had visited her once when she was in the cradle: Percy's father had visited her once, without her mother's knowledge—or maybe her mother was hiding that fact.

Imprisoned in Los Angeles. The only god residing near there would be Hades—entrance to the Underworld, remember? But he was the lord of the dead and Percy hated anything related to that. Heck, she disliked dark colors—rumors has it that children of Hades loved dark colors—and she preferred the color gold or blue, thank you very much.

Percy wished she had more time to prepare for the days to come.

**AxP**

On the night of her third day at Camp Half-Blood, Percy had another vivid dream. She was very much surprised when she looked into the chasm below her and felt a familiar presence. It seemed to be an endless fall down but she wasn't afraid of that.

It was that familiar feeling: one when she felt when she always thought of her father.

"Why hello, my _dear_ daughter, so you came to me at last. Took you long enough." The voice was ancient and it chilled Percy to the core. She was rarely ever afraid of anything but this voice had her trembling in her boots.

"W-who..." Percy swallowed the lump in her throat and mentally cursed herself for sounding so weak. "Who are you?" She demanded, glaring into the chasm below. "And why are you calling me your daughter?"

The voice laughed, amused. "You will know soon. Await the time where it comes," A paused. Percy got the feeling that if the owner of the voice was present, she would have seen him smile. "Persephone Andromeda Jackson."

**AxP**

Percy scowled heavily when the sound of cheering was heard. She grumbled under her breath. She doubted that this 'Capture the Flag' game was any fun. But she has to participate anyway, she was definitely not a child of Aphrodite—who's heritage allowed them an excuse to not join the game.

She turned to Luke, thoroughly irritated—there had better be things to maim or she'll go crazy in the forest. The dream had disturbed her greatly. For two reasons: The 'thing' in the chasm was her father and communicated with her after waiting for so long. Two, she hated waiting for what surprise her father has in store for her. She was impatient and quite hasty; she was someone of action, charging in and getting things done. Not wait and calculate.

"What am I supposed to do?" She yelled to be heard over the noise.

"Guard duty!" Luke yelled in reply.

It didn't take long for the game to start. Percy found herself stuck in a very boring and not dangerous job. It was stuffy by the creek. Percy stripped off the funny-looking helmet and heavy armor. She grimaced, her body was clearly not suited for armor. She'll need once specially made is she ever was to wear one.

In that one moment Percy let her guard down, they assaulted her. Percy barely managed to dodge the spear that was aimed at her. In doing so, another camper took the chance to stab her with his sword. He managed to open a large gash on Percy's forearm. Said girl gritted her teeth and managed not to cry out in pain.

Leading them—of course, damn it—was Clarisse. She laughed at her and threw insults while her siblings—half of the Ares cabin—taunted her and continued attacking her. Percy only managed to deflect a few blows. Needless to say, she got quite beaten up.

"No maiming," Percy spat angrily.

Clarisse laughed. "Oops, sorry." Her cabin mates laughed along with her, fueling Percy's anger. "I forgot. No pudding for me I guess."

Percy couldn't believe they were toying with human lives like this. She slowly retreated into the creek. Instantly, she felt energized; strength returned to her body. The Ares camper that followed her into the creek was the first one she attacked.

Using the disarming technique Luke taught her, she disarmed him and knocked him out with the hilt of her sword. She ducked when another one took a swipe at her and ruthlessly stabbed him in the shoulder blades. Percy slammed her shield into one of the Ares camper's face and sheared the horseplum of the helmet of the other guy.

Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, Percy caught the shaft between the edge of her shield and sword, and she snapped it like a twig, grinning madly all the while.

"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

She probably would've said worse, but Percy smacked her between the eyes with her sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek. Percy sneered at them. Her attention turned when she heard loud cheering.

It dawned on Percy then that she was being used as a bait. Clarisse caught it the same time she did but it was too late to do anything. Luke has already caught the flag.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Percy turned, glowering as she did so to Annabeth who seemed to have materialized out of nowhere.

"You set me up," She stated, deadly calm. A very colorful bunch of vocabulary was spit in the daughter of Athena's face. Annabeth stood shocked still. But not her siblings, they came towards the two girls, ready to back their sister up if needed.

Percy was a few seconds away from throttling one Athena brat from the other when the rest of the campers started gasping and some girls even screamed in fear. She turned around and saw _it_. There, above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

And...it was looking right at Percy. Chiron yelled something but she didn't hear him.

_prove yourself, daughter, this is your chance_—The ancient voice chortled. The hellhound lunged at her. Percy sidestepped the first attack. From her peripheral vision, she caught sight of Chiron taking aim, ready to shoot the hellhound down.

"No, Chiron!" Percy snarled. "This is my fight to prove myself to father!" She didn't know who her father was. But she has a sinking feeling who he was now—her powers pointed to him. Yet, some of her other powers pointed the other way. Nevertheless, she wanted to prove herself worthy of being his daughter.

She didn't know why, maybe it was because her mother always spoke highly of him? She didn't have time to think now though, she thought as she sidestepped another swipe to her side.

She jumped up into the air and brought her sword down, easily severing the head of the hellhound. She watched, out of breath as the monster dissolved into the shadows.

Chiron trotted toward her, face grim. "Well done, Percy." Then he turned toward the rest of the campers who were all watching her with awe in their eyes.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."

Percy's head snapped up. The sign was already disappearing but she managed to make out the hologram of golden light, spinning and gleaming. A scythe: The mark of Kronos.

"Kronos," said Chiron, voice grim. "King of Orthys. Lord of Ages. Titan of Time and Harvest. Hail, Persephone Andromeda Jackson, Daughter of The Titan Lord."

* * *

**A/N: Leave a review on your thoughts! Ciao.**


	6. VI

**_A/N; _**_I'll have you guys know that I got lots of wonderful ideas from Child of Kronos So this chapter is dedicated to her. You should go check out her stories too, its essence is almost similar to this one. But someone else is Kronos' daughter and it takes place after the PJO series._

* * *

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Six. To Be Loved. Blindingly Bright.**

* * *

Percy was completely and utterly miserable for the following days. The campers feared her and shunned her—she was moved from the Hermes Cabin to the Big House. She told herself that she didn't care about what they thought of her and that she was better off on her own anyway.

Luke seemed wary of her now but he hid it well—his sword lessons became one-on-one since no camper dared to spar with a daughter of Kronos. Chiron wouldn't even look at her and avoided her as much as possible. Annabeth studied her as if she was some rare creature—being a demi-titan, it was true—and she doubted that the daughter of Athena even paid much attention to teaching her. The nymphs and satyrs cower in her presence—foot racing was already out of her schedule.

The only people she can consider of being friends now was Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. The older girl didn't fear her, she treated her as she would a fellow camper and in return Percy was nice to her. Then there's Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus. The older and much larger boy was the only one willing to forge her an armor.

It was more than enough, she told herself every time her pitiful and horrible situation settled in her mind. She has two person that was willing to associate with her, what more could she want?

But the truth was: Percy was lonely and bitter.

How can they judge her like this? It wasn't her fault that Kronos turns out to be her father. Percy wondered what her mother saw in a man like that. But her mother loved the Titan Lord, thus, Percy couldn't bring herself to resent the titan that sired her.

If the campers had just bothered to look deeper. Bothered to look past the arrogant and spiteful nature, the immense power, the commanding and intimidating presence, past her heritage. They would have merely found a girl putting on a tough front to hide just how much she truly was hurting. They would have been shocked to find that she was the same—that she wanted the same thing every being in this world sought.

To be loved.

**AxP**

A knock snapped Percy out of her reverie. Frown morphing into a scowl, she opened the door to see who had dared to disturb her just when she was about to have a nap. She nearly glowered at the Hermes camper that was—unfortunately and pitifully—chosen to send her a message.

"What is it?" She snapped, patience running thin when the camper stuttered irritably.

"L-Lord Apollo wants to see you. He's waiting at the dining pavilion!" the camper squeaked and scurried off, missing Percy's stunned expression.

The first thought that crossed her mind was: Impossible. Then she swore loudly, knowing her time has come to an end. This was it. The sun god would blast her into bits in front of the camper for...what reason did he have?

Percy pondered on that as she pulled on her jacket and slowly made her way to where everyone was gathered. Maybe he was there to punish her because she nailed his son with an arrow? Or rather, her living was a crime because of being Kronos' daughter?

Unknowingly, she had already reached the designated area and would have walked right past it if someone hadn't put their hand on her shoulder. Instinctively she lashed out—thinking that she was being assaulted. Her elbow came into contact with a man's—because the uncovered stomach has six pack abs—belly.

The man gave a loud cry and Percy whirled around to face her assailant. At first, she thought he was Luke. But she digressed. Firstly, Luke was not that handsome and the man before her didn't have a scar on his cheek. He was handsome teenage boy around seventeen or eighteen, sandy hair, cobalt blue eyes, a bright cocky smile, and outdoorsy good looks.

"Who're you?" Percy demanded, glaring holes into the man. "How dare you sneak up on me?"

"Ow—" The man continued to whine. Percy's patience—that was barely hanging on as it was—evaporated into thin air. Just as she turned to leave, the man straightened up immediately, expression suddenly serious and placed his hand on Percy's shoulder.

Percy let out a hiss of pain and whirled to face the man. "What?" Her eyes snapped to the hand on her shoulder. "And don't touch me."

"How rude, is this how you treat a god?" The man—no, Apollo, Percy realized—threw a cocky grin her way. She curse her brain for—even for just a moment—thinking that this annoying creature was handsome. "Not that I mind."

"What do you want?" Percy asked warily. If Apollo wasn't going to blast her to bits before, he will now. She had elbowed him and was less than polite to him.

"Hey, chill, sweetheart." Apollo grinned when he saw Percy's cheeks colored pink but it was quickly replaced with a glare, her eyes narrowed in disbelief and mistrust and...was that self-loathing? Apollo shrugged it off and studied the girl before him. She was petite and delicate looking, long brown lashes framed beautiful golden-colored eyes and—

Whoa—Apollo stopped himself before he can go further. What was he doing checking a twelve year old girl out? She was still a minor and haven't fully developed yet. But he was willing to lay money on her being a hottie once she hit puberty—maybe then he can sought her out. He wasn't blind as to how pretty she is now, she'll just be more beautiful in the future.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." Her golden eyes flared brighter. Apollo thought that her angered face was cute. He really shouldn't be provoking her—he should be terrified when the girl looked ready to rip him into pieces regardless of who he was.

But...this was Apollo. He feared _nothing_—and would do anything to get what he wants: which, now is the girl before him. "Whatever you say..._sweetie_." He stressed the last word just to annoy her. And annoy her he did. "I was sent here by my father, Lord Zeus—"

"I don't think you're the god of messengers." Percy interrupted him. Apollo let that slid. He knew many of the Olympians would blast the girl to bits for her rudeness but they needed her. Personally, he felt sick to be using the girl that wasn't to be blame for her heritage but there was nothing he could do.

"—But I owe Hermes quite a number of favors you see—"

Percy snorted. "I don't _see _anything." Apollo ignore her but he clamp a hand over her mouth. Predictably, she started struggling against him. He used his other hand to pull her against him and continued as if Kronos' daughter wasn't screaming into his hand and kicking him in the shins.

"—I'm doing one for him now by coming here to deliver you the message instead of him." Apollo finished. Percy gave up struggling, breathing hard and glaring at his hand. "You're a special case, there had never ever been demi-titan before. Artemis is willing to sponsor your stay in her cabin, under the condition that you would join her Hunters—"

Percy had already started struggling when Apollo got to the part about joining Artemis. She managed to push his hand away from her mouth long enough to snap. "And be her slave? Never! You can tell her to shove the idea and_ kindness _up her—"

Apollo muffled her words rather quickly. If Artemis had heard her, man, she would have been a jackalope already. "Shh! Don't be so rude, Artemis has a quite the legendary temper you know. Though it pales in comparison to Hera's—anyways, even if you want to refuse, just say 'no', not curse her for her kind offer."

Apollo was satisfied to see the girl had stopped struggling against him and had settled fro crossing her arms and glaring. "You'll be having a room next to Chiron instead of the guest room you're in now."

"Why next to Chiron?" Percy whined after having shoved the male's hand away.

"So he can watch after you." Apollo replied. "And when its time to eat, you'll be sitting at my table together with my children." He was smiling brightly when he said the last part. It was a split second decision on his part once he caught sight of her lonely figure wandering around all alone in his visions—back before Kronos claimed her. To tell the truth, he had been having some dreams about her for quite some years already—he didn't know why though.

"I'm sure your children wouldn't like that." Percy sneered. "You can also—

"I'll talk to them about it, they will listen to me." Apollo said firmly, in a rare moment of seriousness Percy looked genuinely surprised that he would do that for her; he didn't fault her. He himself was confused as to why he even volunteered for someone he didn't know except in his dreams.

She nodded grudgingly but she seemed pleased as well. "Fine."

His proud grin of accomplishment was so blindingly bright that she had to avert her gaze.

**AxP**

* * *

A/N: Review, m'kay?


	7. VII

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Seven: Incognito Guardian.**

* * *

Percy glared so hard Annabeth was pretty sure the headrest was going to burn into ashes. The daughter of Athena was wise and knew a lot, but the enigma that was the daughter of Kronos Percy Jackson wasn't one of the things she knew about. And neither was the blonde haired man that was suppose to be taking over Argus' job of driving away campers.

But Annabeth was smart enough to know that the two knew each other. And that Percy wanted the man to disintegrate on the spot by her glare—even though she should know that it will never happen. And the man himself...Annabeth turned her gaze to the man who claimed to be Fred, he was annoying and she could definitely see why Percy want him gone.

But Kronos' daughter acted as if the man himself offended her personally. Annabeth decided to not pry, getting involve with the daughter of a Titan—the Titan King to boot!—was like signing a death sentence. Her mother's message was clear: Don't get attached to Percy or she'll regret it. She had her orders after all, kill—as much as she detested it—the daughter of Kronos if she ever prove to be suspicious or was a threat. The thought of killing someone—demi-titan or not—made Annabeth nauseous. And Percy may not show it, but deep down, Annabeth can tell the younger girl enjoyed their morning lessons together.

She reclined in her seat and studied her other quest mate, Grover Underwood. He had been the satyr that had brought her to camp though he had failed one of them, she didn't blame him, not anymore. He looked nervous and terrified but he had insisted on going with the two girls. Percy hadn't been happy but it was obvious no one else would go with her; she had begrudgingly accepted his help after a few words—"Slow me down and you'll regret it!"—and a disgusted look at the satyr, she had stormed off. But Annabeth was sure Percy didn't really hate Grover because she gave him a magical item—she had shoved the shoes that Luke'd given her into Grover's lap and said nothing.

Annabeth found it hard to dislike Percy as time passed and Grover slowly relaxed. They had played a game with an apple. Annabeth thought it was fun but she tried to hide that fact—facing Percy's piercing gold eyes though she found it hard to do so. Percy wasn't so bad herself. The game—unfortunately ended—when Grover accidentally ate the apple. And the terrified look had returned again as he gaze at Percy—the apple belongs to her after all, and yes, she was the one that wanted to play in the first time. But the daughter of Kronos was laughing cheerfully; Annabeth had joined in, laughing at Grover's expressions.

Annabeth had forgotten that she quite liked Percy when she wasn't frowning, scowling, sneering mockingly or screaming at her. Then she sobered: liking Percy is not a good sign. But laughing and smiling as she did just then, Percy looked like a million drachma seeing as she usually glared at everything.

When the driver Fred had commented on how sweet Percy's laugh was. The smile had disappeared and she settled for glaring at the back of the man's head again. Annabeth was half tempted to glower at the man for wiping of the smile on Percy's face—it was very rare to see her smile. And she got the feeling that only those special to Percy can see her smile.

"All right," Fred—if that really was his name, Annabeth had the impression that it was fake—announced just as the van lurched to a stop, easily snapping Annabeth out of her reverie. "We're here."

Percy was the first one out of the van. She hauled Grover out of the van when he lingered and slammed the doors shut in the driver's face, without so much as a thank you. Annabeth thought it was rude but she immediately knew why Percy slammed the door shut and if she were in the other girl's shoes, she would have done so too. What he'd said must have made Percy' skin crawl.

"See ya later, sweetheart!" It was said in such an annoying and loving tone that Percy shuddered and practically ran away.

Annabeth had to suppress a smile.

**AxP**

Percy couldn't help the string of curses that made Annabeth and Grover blushed like virgins—oh wait, they're virgins. Annabeth coughed awkwardly and glared at her, blush still evident on her face. "Stop that!"

"All three of them!" Percy hissed back as she pressed herself away further from sight. But the old hag that looked like Mrs. Dodds—albeit much more older now in her new disguise—spotted her and her eyes gleamed evilly. "Fucking shit." She could have cursed much worse but the woman-in-her-seventies behind her looked as if she was ready to have a heart attack. She didn't want to be the cause of the lady's heart failure—the headlines would be screaming: "12-YEAR-OLD CAUSES HEART FAILURE BY CURSING!"

Annabeth, being the _oh-so-great-and-wise_ daughter of Athena devised a plan for Percy—_her_ of all three of them!—to escape. Percy found that Annabeth was even more stubborn than her and she was forced to go along with it.

Fingers trembling and feeling like a total coward, Percy put on Annabeth's invisible cap and slithered away from the Furies—she couldn't comprehend why campers call them _Kindly Ones _when there's _nothing kind_ about them. She hesitated and turned back just in time to see the Furies raised their whips, ready to bring them down on her fr—her—_allies_. Percy ignored the fact that she had come so close in calling them _friends_.

She couldn't—wouldn't—leave them.

Seeing nothing else to do, Percy grabbed the wheel from the driver who was distracted and jerked it left. She smirked in satisfaction when she heard the sound of the Furies crashing into the windows. Her attention returned to the driver who tried to wrestle the wheel from her even though he couldn't see anyone there.

This continued on for a while, the people outside must have wondered whether or not the driver was drunk. Because they kept severing left and right and the passengers were screaming—Percy was sure she'll go deaf soon. She hit the emergency break in a desperate moment to stop the screaming that was driving her crazy—and, a small part of her admitted, to avoid getting any of the mortals injured. She hoped the old lady sitting behind her before didn't have a weak heart or her heart really will fail her in these joy ride of excitements.

The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. Percy sneered—"Selfish mortals."—and stepped into the driver's seat to let them pass. She didn't mind, her allies were still in the bus.

The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans. Percy looked at the open doorway, then back at them. She couldn't leave them. Never. She ripped of her invisible cap and yelled for their attention.

"Persephone Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said—in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia—once she turn and saw her. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."

Percy sneered. "I like you better as a math teacher." And she charged, using the element of surprise she managed to strike a Fury down, sending her toppling into a seat. She turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust.

Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.

"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"

"It radiates fire, Grover." Percy said, tone expressing how incredulous she felt. "Of course, its hot. Do you think it will be cold?" She couldn't help the sarcasm that escaped her.

Percy didn't have time—ironic considering who her father was—to wait for the satyr's reply because the Fury she'd hilt-slammed came at her again. Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"

Percy couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous she looked and sounded. Her sarcastic side got the better of her and she jeered back. "Tell them to try their best, yeah?"

"_Braccas meas vescimini_!" Grover yelled. Annabeth coughed, trying to keep a straight face. Percy laughed harder, knowing that it meant "Eat my pants".

She winked at him. "Good job, Grover."

Just as she said that, thunder shook the bus. The hair on the back of Percy's neck rose. She only had time to think—_I guess Zeus took me seriously, wonderful_—and hear Annabeth scream: "Run!" and managed to leap off the bus, and then only realizing how stupid she was for leaving their bag of supplies behind in the bus that exploded a second later.

"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

Percy and Grover didn't need much more urging. They turned tail and plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind them, and nothing but darkness ahead.

**AxP**

Percy was grumpy for a few many reasons. One, she was tired; two, she was fucking hungry; three, she was dirty; four, she wanted out of this stupid forest that had trapped them in its embrace of darkness. Tiredly scanning the area with golden eyes, Percy rubbed a bead of sweat from her head as she trudged on forwards, leading the way.

Grover trembled in fear, at times like these, he was sorta glad that the daughter of Kronos was there because then she'd be able to protect them.

Annabeth certainly didn't share the same sentiment because she was frowning at the smaller girl, arms crossed and the look in her eyes promised a rather long debate. Children of Athena were like that, in Grover's opinion, no matter of terrible their argument got, they just said that it was a debate—if Percy charged Annabeth now with a grenade in her hand, and Grover was lanching bomb after bomb at Annabeth, he was sure the blonde would just say they should stop having such intense debates.

He snorted softly, imagining such a scene made him relaxed slightly but when he nearly ran into a tree, his guard went up again and he looked around fearfully. So intense was he when looking for a threat that he didn't look at the ground; he yelped as he tripped. The two girls threw him brief glances, Percy rolled her eyes and pulled his arm roughly, jerking him up, drawling, "You okay?"

He nodded fearfully, silently thinking as he followed her that maybe she wasn't that bad after all. He slid his hands into his pocket, his fingers brushed against his trusty reed pipes and he instantly pulled it out and placed it on his lips, blowing hard, producing a sound he hadn't exactly meant to make.

Percy stared at him blankly while Annabeth shuddered. "That," the golden-eyed girl said dryly. "sounded like a sound a tortured owl would make." She snickered softly at Annabeth's face and she darted forwards to evade the blonde's swap. Grover followed the 'debating' girls and stopped when both did; his nose twitched when a wonderful smell wafted up his nose.

"Smell that?" asked Annabeth, stepping closer to Percy who'd already slid down the slope and trudged towards the front door. "Greasy food."

"Fast food," Percy agreed as she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Why, hello there, dears, what brings little children like you to my humble abode?"

A woman, clad in black and her face veiled in black cloth, was the one who'd greeted them. Grover felt lulled by the woman's voice, he followed his female companions' example and stepped inside. He was ushered by the kind woman to sit on a chair at the dining table; he glanced around nervously, having the gut feeling that something was very wrong and that they should leave.

His ears twitched beneath his cap. "Uh, is that snakes I hear? Those hissing sounds?"

"No, Grover dear," Dimly, Grover wondered how the woman knew his name when neither of them had introduced themselves to her. "It's just the grill. You have good ears, Grover."

"Er, um, I take vitamins for, y'know, my ears." The woman hummed agreeably as she drifted back into the kitchen and not a moment too soon, came back with a tray filled to the brim with greasy food. The satyr's stomach growled loudly, he licked his lips in anticipation and when the plate full of french fries was served, he devoured it in one bite: plate, fries and a piece of the tablecloth.

Grover looked up abruptly, worried that the mortal woman had seen it. Indeed, she was watching him and yet, she was smiling. Grover darted a glance at the girls and noticed that they were still eating their food, and was even trying to strike up a conversation with their hostess.

"What happened to you?" Percy asked abruptly, rudely, golden eyes hazy but still narrowed in the faintest hint of suspicion. Percy looked as if she was trying to fight off something but she didn't seem to have a clue either as to what she was supposed to do battle with. It alerted Grover and he blinked rapidly, shaking his head to throw off the hazy feeling.

"Oh, you see, dear, a terrible Grey-Eyed, jealous woman did this to me. I was once a beautiful woman myself, and I have two sisters but as time passed, they'd fade away, leaving me alone in this cruel time. You understand me, don't you, Percy dear?"

Percy seemed to have lost whatever battle she was fighting as her head drooped floppily down onto her chest in a demented version of a nod and the black-clad woman beamed, clapping her hands together in happiness. Then she reached over and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, jerking her to her feet and started dragging her out of the house.

"W—wait!" Annabeth and Grover scrambled out of their seat and ran after their wayward friend and hostess. "Percy!"

"What're you doing?" the daughter of Athena demanded, grey eyes now wide and alert.

The black-clad woman chuckled darkly, turning around to face the blonde girl, her grip on the other girl loosening slightly. Much to their surprise, Percy didn't react to the chance of being free; she remained listless, normally gold eyes dazed and distant—she wouldn't be of much help if the woman suddenly turned out to be a monster.

"Well, I have a mission to complete," The woman's hand went to the back of her head, upturning her hat, revealing a head of snakes that had the group of youths stumbling backwards. Annabeth glanced desperately at the immobile Percy, silently imploring her to move. "But I'm sure Lord Zeus wouldn't mind if I killed one of the Gray-Eyed Athena' child!" Black gloves tore into claws as the veil was pulled off by the snakes.

Annabeth shielded her eyes, hand whipping out her invisibility cap and placing it on top of her head. Safe from sight, she darted behind a statue, watching with wide eyes as Percy turned - ever so slowly and Annabeth could just feel her heart stopping as Medusa's and Percy's gaze connected.

Much to her shock, it was Medusa who recoiled. "Damn you, Daughter of Kronos—"

Medusa's body glowed brightly, forcing Annabeth to cover her eyes. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was Percy's fallen form, her feet already starting to turn into stone. She darted forwards, heart pounding. The gray-eyed girl didn't knew she cared, but after encountering Medusa and facing the threat of losing her, she knew she did.

"Percy!" she screamed, shaking the stoning body until she felt someone grasped her shoulder and gently pushed her back. "Wha..." she trailed off, seeing the cloaked stranger. She looked up, squinted but failed to make out the man's face; yet, she felt his smile.

"Why don't you check your satyr friend while I deal with this girl?"

Annabeth nodded, slightly hesitant but her instinct told her to trust this stranger.

**AxP  
**

"Percy!" Someone cried. "Wake up!"

_What happened?_—she wondered. Then it came, the memories came rushing back to her. That's right, they had walked right into a trap set by Zeus—he'd given Medusa specific orders to eliminate her. But the gorgon failed, she recalled, smiling.

"Failed?" Someone screeched—she concluded it was the same person. "She nearly turned you to stone!" A sob. "If it wasn't for your father..." A choking sound. It sounds as if the person speaking was choking down a sob. Was she crying? For her? Someone who had no companions, who can love no one but her mother?

Blonde and grey blurred her vision. "Annabeth..." She croaked. Her throat was so dry, damn it. "Nectar..." But their supplies were blasted to bits in the explosion together with the bus. "No. Water will do fine."

Something pressed on her lips, smooth and solid. Percy opened her mouth and water immediately poured down her throat, soothing her and re-energizing her. She blinked to clear her fuzzy vision. Her memory was fuzzy too, she had passed out after a hard blow to the head. She hoped she didn't have any concussion. "What happened..?"

"You don't remember?" Grover asked. He looked worried. "Well, you—"

"I can't believe you!" Annabeth interrupted.

Percy coughed. "What did I do?"

Annabeth had a look of utter outrage. "You looked into Medusa's eyes!" She shrieked. Percy didn't know when the daughter of Athena had grabbed the front of her shirt but she was now being shake like a doll.

Grover finally got the balls to pry Annabeth's hands off Percy. Both girls were breathing hard, glaring at one another. But there was relief in both their eyes. Percy closed her eyes, trying to remember ever looking into Medusa's eyes.

Yes...she thought, she did look into the monster's eyes. Out of curiosity. It was crazy, she knew, but the temptation was just too great. How was it that she wasn't a stone now? She must have spoken out loud because Annabeth answered her.

"There was this man." Annabeth said. "He claimed to be incognito whatever. I was too"—she took a deep breath like she was going to regret what she was about to say next—"worried about my friend to care." Her words meant so much to Percy who had never been considered a friend by anyone before. "He stopped you from turning into stone with just a touch."

Percy leaned back into the comfort of the couch, surveying the scene. They were definitely still in Medusa's lair. She kept her face a blank mask, so to not let the other two decipher her emotions—but since Grover's a satyr, he can sense her emotions so it was useless to hide from him. But she can bully him into keeping his mouth shut.

Being the leader of the quest, Percy felt compelled to order them. "Go find some supplies. Something edible." Annabeth glared at her but trudged off to do as she was ordered.

Percy looked at the box that was place innocently on the table. As innocent as it looked, it held Medusa's head.

What had Medusa said?

_Do not be a pawn of the Olympians or your father, my dear. You would be better off as a statue._

Percy searched the place until she found Medusa's account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. She folded up the bill and stuffed it in her pocket.

Percy grabbed whatever supplies she could find—twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. Just for the fun of it, Percy went out to the living room—at least, she assumed it was the living room—to find her friends looking at her curiously. She found a black whiteboard marker and filled out a delivery slip, smirking smugly the whole time.

_The Gods_

_Mount Olympus_

_600th Floor,_

_Empire State Building_

_New York, NY_

_With best wishes,_

_PERCY JACKSON_—

Chuckling, Percy tapped her chin, wondering what else she should add. Her smirk grew as she wrote, to add salt to the wound that they had failed so spectacularly in taking care of their prisoners: _Daughter of Time._

"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. The satyr seemed to have forgotten where his place was; Percy will teach him a lesson later. "They'll think you're impertinent."

Percy poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as she closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop! Which made Percy smile sweetly. "I _am_ impertinent," she said haughtily The fuzzy vision of a man's face surfaced in her mind and she immediately knew who it was. "And besides...I have an incognito guardian."

Annabeth sighed, resigned that the daughter of a titan will forever remain anti to the Olympians; though she do wonder about the guardian thing. "Right—come on, we need a new plan."

Percy leaned forward, smirking in a hungry way that sent identical chills down Grover and Annabeth's spines. "Well? Spill it."

**AxP**


	8. VIII

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Eight: Loyalty. Legacy.**

* * *

Percy frowned as she contemplated the thought. "Hey, Annabeth " She called her...blonde friend. The thought of having a friend still overwhelmed her sometimes but it was pleasant surprise. "When you said something about my father...after I woke up from looking into Medusa's eyes."

She cringed slightly when Annabeth's eyes seemed to shoot daggers at her. "I read once that you'd turn into stone immediately once you look into Medusa's eyes. But you didn't, at first I though it was you that was slowing time down." She hesitated and it surprised Percy—the daughter of Athena never backs down. Never. "But I felt a presence—it was ancient and intimidating."

"And you thought it was my father," Percy summed it up. "since I was out cold and all."

Annabeth nodded.

Percy sighed heavily. This just makes things complicated. Why did her father—Kronos who ate his children once—chose to save her when he could let her rot and die? This way, she wouldn't be able to slander his name by failing on her first quest.

"I'll take first watch. You girls can rest." Grover volunteered. Percy was too tired to make a sarcastic reply or a remark. Their camping place was horrible and they couldn't even lit a fire lest they want to attract monsters—they'd had enough excitements for one day, thanks. The place was littered and dirty, and stank too. She doubted she could sleep at all.

Apparently, Annabeth was too tired to care—she passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow. Percy followed her example but she didn't think Annabeth shared the same dream she did.

She found herself seated on a...throne? Percy was incredulous—_what the Hades?_—and baffled. She looked around and noticed that there was someone else in the throne room—which had eleven other throne—besides her. The man was seated at the end of one table; the opposite of Percy. Percy didn't need anyone to tell her who that man was.

It was her father—Kronos. He was easily recognizable: golden eyes, dark hair with blonde highlights and the tan skin. He was resting his head on his palm, head tilted, eyes seemingly amused and curious. A habit of the pair of father and daughter. A chill went down Percy's spine when she noticed all the similarities between the two of them.

"Da—Father." She stumbled over her words, flustered and unsure as to what she should be calling him. 'Dad' seemed too personal and implied that they were close—which they were not; 'Father' sounds better yet it sound so distant—which made Percy's heart ache.

"_Persephone._" He greeted, voice as ancient as ever, highlighted with amusement now. "What...do you think of Mount Orthys?"

Percy blinked. "I thought it was gone now." Kronos didn't say anything to her comment. Percy held back a sigh when she realized he wanted her to answer him first. What a jerk. "Its beautiful—this place I mean." And it was true. The seats differ from one another, as if made specifically for those that were supposed to sit on it.

"Um...so...who's seat are those?" Percy couldn't' resist asking. Her curiosity getting the better of her.

"The Elite Twelve are as follows: Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Theia, Coeus, Phoebe, Mnemosyne, Themis, Crius, Iapetus, Rhea, and me." Kronos replied, surprisingly. She had expected him to ignore her. "Oceanus is the ruler of the sea. He is the only one who can control the water. Tethys also rules the seas, right beside her husband. Hyperion is the ruler of the sun. He controls how much heat and light the mortals get. Theia is the "bright one"."—sarcasm laced Kronos' tone as he said this—"She helps control her husband's anger, to ensure the mortals' safety—so they don't get fry by the heat of the sun when he gets mad." Kronos added the last part at Percy's blank stare.

"Coeus is the thinker. He thinks about all the important decisions and weighs the options. Phoebe controls the moon. She decides when we shall have light once Hyperion makes the sun go out. Mnemosyne controls memory. If she feels you're don't deserve to remember something, she erases it. Themis represents balance and justice. She often decides your fate… if you shall live or die. Crius controls the night sky, the constellations. Iapetus is known as the "piercer". He also rules the underworld, the area where the Evil Ones are. He has to make sure they never escape. Rhea and me are the complete rulers of the land. _I _control time." Kronos finished his explanation. All the while, his voice was sarcastic and he often snorted here and there when he described the other Titans' powers.

Percy looked around again. "So...I thought Rhea should be sitting beside you." She eyed the empty space beside Kronos. "Where's her throne?"

She wished she hadn't asked. Kronos snarled in anger and slammed his fist onto the table. Percy jerked back in fear. And, if her eyes weren't rotting or malfunctioning, Kronos' expression softened when he saw her reaction to his anger. But it was masked away the next second. "She betrayed me." He hissed. "And you expect me to honor her by giving her throne here?"—he waved his hand as if the suggestion was ridiculous—"her throne my dear, is the one you're sitting on now." His eyes glinted dangerously. "You'll me my immortal daughter once we win the war—"

"What war?"

"The second Titan war." Kronos clarified. "And this time, we will _win_. And you will help me—and my fellow Titans—rise to their former glory and throw those upstarts into Tartarus."

"What makes you think I will help you?" Percy challeneged.

Kronos' eyes glowed dangerously bright. He looked ready to blast his daughter to bits. Then he scowled. "Titaness of Harvest and Agriculture—"

Percy opened her mouth to protest but Kronos continued, not giving her a chance to say anything. "—or perhaps Lady of the Seasons. I'm planning on appointing you to take Demeter's place to control the seasons."

"You'll trust me with that position?" Percy asked, disbelief laced her tone.

"You're my daughter—your loyalties lie with me." Kronos said as if it was obvious. It it was, Percy couldn't tell at all. "I don't care how—be my spy in camp or join my army and led—but you serve me. Did I make myself clear?"

Percy couldn't do anything but nod in agreement though her being screamed otherwise.

"Now, as for your quest." Kronos leaned back in his throne, his voice amused for whatever reasons—Percy didn't want to know. "Whatever symbol of power falls into your possession, hand it over to me."

"How do I do that?"

Kronos waved his hand irritably "I have a minion in camp. More than one actually." Percy swallowed, she wondered how can one betray ones parents. "Hand it over to him. You'll know who he is when the time comes."

Percy had a gut feeling that she already know who it is.

"Good," Kronos rasped, "Now I'll have to get you out of here. Prepare for a surprise visit."

The world started spinning. It took a few moments for Percy to realize that it was Annabeth shaking her. "Wake up, Percy. Damn, you sleep like the dead."

Percy shoved Annabeth away from her and grunted when sunlight spilled on her. _Its going to be a long day_—she thought as she spotted a pink poodle by Grover's side.

**AxPxO**

"So remind me, what are we doing here again?"

Percy crossed her arms and glared hard at her blonde friend who was spouting facts about The Arch—information that she could barely care anymore less about. Grover shifted uneasily—he still wasn't used to her quick change of mood. "Annabeth is into architecture. She wanted to come and we can't leave her alone here."

"That's right," Someone whispered in her left ear. "You shouldn't leave your friends behind."

Percy jumped and whirled around. To her dismay, only to see the last person—seconded by Kronos—she wanted to see. "Apollo—" She hissed but the sun god hurriedly shushed the demigoddess.

"Shh—when we're out here, call me Fred." The blonde's sandy hair was tied in a pony tail and he wore country clothes, his sunglasses covering his eyes. Percy thought he looked good but she wasn't going to say anything to him about that.

"Whatever. What're you doing here?" The girl demanded, looking back to make sure that her friends weren't in earshot. "Get out of here."

"That's rude. I came here to—"

"Percy!" And Apollo disappeared as quickly as he had came earlier. Just in time too, Percy added silently as she turned to face Annabeth.

"What is it?" Percy found herself asking that a lot recently. And she didn't enjoy it.

"We're leaving, come on." Annabeth steered her and Grover toward the exit, she and Grover entered first and Percy was about to go in as well when she realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for her.

The park ranger said, "Next car, miss."

"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."

But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time. And Percy had no wish to spend anymore time here, especially when _he_—no, that vermin—was still around somewhere waiting. "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."

Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp. As expected, after they left, Apollo that most annoying siddled up to her side. Percy glared at him for even daring to exist.

Now the only people left on the observation deck were her, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua. She refused to acknowledge the presence of the man beside her.

She averted her gaze to the obese lady standing to her right—where Apollo stood on her left. The lady smiled and Percy swore she saw a forked tongue flickering through her teeth. Unwillingly, she acknowledged Apollo. "Did you see what I see?"

"Enchidna." Apollo said gravely, all traces of cheerfulness gone. Percy found the change unnerving and was tempted to smooth out the frown lines on his face. She squashed that urge down and glared at him.

"A monster." She concluded. "Well? Aren't you going to blast in into pieces?

"Unfortunately, as much as I would like too, I cannot interfere directly in this battle—" Apollo said.

"Wait, you're just going to let me fight her"—the chihuahua revealed itself to be a chimera—"and her son by myself?" Percy interjected angrily. "Without any help at all?"

"Of course not! But I have the Ancient Laws to think about. Or have you forgotten, sweetheart?" Apollo rolled his eyes. Percy gritted her teeth at the insulting and degrading nickname. "I can't interfere unless I'm challenged." He took a few steps back as the Chimera roared. "Well? Get slaying, sweetheart."

Percy wanted to scream in his face but the monster didn't give her a chance. She dodged a swipe and brought out Riptide—a gift from her grandmother, Chrion said, which was ridiculous since her grandmother died in a plane crash—and lunged, the sword made contact with the chimera's collar. The material was too thick for her sword and Riptide bounced off the steel, flying from her grip and skidding across the floor towards the hole—that the chimera's fire had melted—and down it.

This sealed the deal. She had the worst luck ever. Most likely inherited from her mom, but she couldn't blame the woman. She was so concentrated on the front that she'd forgotten that the tail of the chimera was a snake. And that said snake sneaked up on her and managed to score a bite to her thigh.

She yelled in pain and inspected the wound in favor of hearing Echidna's ranting about her not having any faith blah, blah, blah. The wound was poisoned—the snake was poisonous. She swore curses in ancient languages.

She closed her eyes and prayed quite untraditionally. _Uh, dad? Can ya turn back time for the leg wound?_—she thought and as she expected, no answer. Something sparkling at the corner of her eyes drew her attention, she turned to see—what would be the last sight she saw—the Mississippi River.

The river... Now was an inappropriate time, but she couldn't help to wonder where or how she got her water powers. She wasn't a daughter of any water gods or goddesses, that she was sure of. Her mother was a mortal. Her father was the immortal parent and he had no powers over water.

Enchidna sneered. "What's wrong, girl?" She taunted. That smile made Percy want to punch her in the face. But unfortunately, she wasn't capable of doing anything now—slowly being killed by the poison. "You're a legacy. I'm sure of it." The monster's gaze wandered over to Apollo—who was standing stiffly at a side, doing nothing yet seeming to be straining himself—then to the river. "Why don't you jump? I'm sure if you prayed, he will help you." The 'he' was Apollo of course, even Enchidna was gesturing to him.

"No. Way." Percy grounded out through gritted teeth. Her pride wouldn't let it. She pushed herself onto her feet and stumbled backwards, towards the hole. The river glistened under the glare of the sun and she couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful it was.

She closed her eyes, prayed to her dad—even though she was sure he wouldn't do anything to help—and jumped.

**AxPxO**

Apollo had a very hard time restraining himself as he watch Percy fought a losing battle with Enchidna. He was silently imploring the girl to pray to him, so he could help. Interfere indirectly perhaps. But she didn't—he was pretty sure her pride wouldn't let her do it.

And his heart nearly stopped when he saw her jump. Ichor—the blood of immortals—pounded in his ears. He stepped close enough for the snake to try to bite him. He easily dodged the strike. He snapped his fingers and the monsters dissolved in a blinding flash of light.

He ignored the screaming mortals and looked down to where Percy had fallen. He didn't see her but he knew it was too late to save her from anything.

With a growl of frustration, he teleported away to pay a visit to Thanatos. Death might be able to tell him whether she was alive or not. And he couldn't help but feel guilty that he hadn't stepped in sooner.

**AxPxO**

The moment Percy hit the river, she'd expected to be flatten into a pancake. But instead, she was fine and even the burning sensation in her thigh disappeared. As if the water had healed her; but that wasn't the end of it, she was breathing—she could breathe in water!

"How on earth...?" She murmured in disbelief as she felt her clothes. They were dry as if she was still on land. But she didn't complain, she wasn't one to look for a gift horse in the mouth.

"_Persephone,_" Percy whirled around to see her mother. No...not her mother, Percy amended, blinking away tears. She glared hard at the woman that looked like her mother but the mirage didn't so much as flinch under the intensity of her glare.

"Who are you?" She spat venomously.

The mirage's sea blue eyes—so much like her mother's—held sadness and mirth in them as she gazed at Percy. Then, to Percy's surprise, the mirage laughed softly and reached out a hand to caressed Percy's cheek. Said girl flinched and shied away from the gentle touch.

"_I'm your grandmother, Percy, my granddaughter_." The woman explained. "_Perhaps my legacy would be a much more appropriate wording."_

"Don't be crazy," Percy said rudely. "My grandmother died in an air crash. You're...not a ghost...are you?" Percy's voice was suspicious, her eyes narrowed as if daring the mirage to admit it.

The mirage laughed. "_I'm Tethys, my dear. What does that make your mother?"_

Percy's eyes widened. "A demi-titan...like me."

Tethys smiled sadly. "_Kronos always wanted someone with power._" Percy blinked as Tethys' form started flickering. The titaness frowned in displeasure, "_Do not trust his gifts,"_ She warned as her form started dissolving. "_Your mother is still alive, do not despair. Listen to your father—but you must choose whose side you're on. Your time is limited, dear_." Tethys watery hands cupped Percy's till she dispersed into sea foams.

"_I'll see you again._" Percy rubbed her the tears that formed in her eyes as her grandmother's form disappeared. She'd lost her mother again—Tethys looked so much like Sally that it hurts. She brought up the pearls in her hand—a gift from Tethys.

_Do not trust his gifts_—Tethys' words resounded in her ears as she kicked her legs and swarmed towards the surface.

She ignored the mortals' stare and focused on finding her companions. Grover found her first, with his satyr sense of smell. She gave them a brief summary of what had happened as they left the Arch. Before they were out of sight, Percy spared a last glance at the top. Hoping to see Apollo, but was forced to leave when Annabeth called her.

"Stupid Apollo," She muttered. Her chest burned at the thought that he had left her to die at the hands of the monster.

She squashed down the useless feeling and trudged after her friends.

**AxPxO**

* * *

A/N; What do you think? Leave a review!


	9. IX

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Nine: First Crush. Love Ride.**

* * *

Percy grimaced. She—and her friends—hadn't showered since Half-Blood Hill and it was quite obvious to other people. No one was willing to sit with her because of the stench—or maybe it was because she was glaring at anyone that entered her vision. Grover and Annabeth were sitting in front of her; she was sitting alone and she was quite content at peace and quiet.

But of course, being who she is, that peace and quiet didn't last long. That peace was broken by one sun god—who she couldn't comprehend why kept bugging her. She glared at him, still pissed that he had left her to die back at the Arch. "Do I know you?" She spat coldly.

Apollo's sky blue eyes flashed with hurt; he masked it with a grin. "Hey there sweetheart! I knew you would survive—"

"Get. Out. Of. My. Sight." Golden eyes glared harsher at the teen before her. Percy crossed her arms under her chest so as to not slip and punch him in the face. She'll get curse if she did that.

Apollo winced. "Percy, you must understand that I—"

"Can't interfere?" She sneered. "Right. And the lady was screaming that a boy just snap his fingers and the monster disappear. I wonder who their savior is? I didn't see him when I need him." She scowled. "But I guess it's obvious why. I wasn't suppose to exist should I? Being the daughter of _him_ and all..."

Apollo opened his mouth to say something but Percy had had enough of his lies. "Get out. Before I throw you out." Her deadly calm—too calm—voice had Apollo moving even before he knew it. Apollo spared a last glance at the girl he'd come to—oddly—cared about. Percy noted that he looked hurt beyond measure.

Her chest felt as if an anchor had dropped down onto it. For the first time, she was hurt over the misfortunes of someone else. She sure as hell didn't know what it was, but she knew it had nothing to do with feeling sorry for Apollo. Percy didn't want to pat him on the back and flash him a semi-comforting look. She got the urge to rush up to him and bury her head in his chest. The brunette wanted to make him feel better, no matter what she had to sacrifice in the process.

Apollo _was_ kind of cute when he wasn't treating her like she was his girlfriend—by calling her honey, sweetie, sweetheart etc cetera. She tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. With a start, she blushed. She... she had a crush on Apollo. Part of her actually wished they were dating. Gods, what came over her? Percy Jackson didn't crush, and she sure as Hades didn't grow dependent on another person. Dating wasn't her thing. Yet, she wanted to date the son of one of her father's greatest enemies. She wasn't sure what mental issue she possessed, but she figured she might as well go ahead and check herself into an insane asylum.

She slumped back into her seat and buried her face into her arms. She cursed Apollo—_why did he have to be so good-looking anyway?_—and his attitude —_how can he be so nice and annoying at the same time_? Things just got a whole lot more complicated. There's still her father to think about; he would never approve of her feelings. And... she might have to fight against Apollo—and everything that he cared about—in the upcoming war that _her father _wanted to start.

"Stupid Apollo." She muttered under her breath.

**AxPxO**

After doing that Iris-messaging, Percy led her team to a restaurant. A few minutes later, they were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas. Percy's stomach growled loudly as she watched them eat.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically after eyeing our clothes and age. "Well?"

"We, um, want to order dinner." Percy wished she hadn't sound so pathetic.

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

Grover's lower lip quivered. Percy was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger; and Percy wasn't any better.

Her mind was working trying to think up a sob story for the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb. All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather—but leather that looked like ... well, Caucasian human skin.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face Percy'd ever seen—handsome, she guess, but wicked; and...a small part of her muttered that he pale in comparison to Apollo—with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked the three questmates again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

The biker said, "It's on me." As he slid into their booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window. He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?" He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.

The biker looked at Percy and she instantly knew it would be a long and troublesome conversation. She almost wished it were Apollo.

Almost.

**AxPxO**

A tense silence hung above the three pre-teens plus one stranger—to Annabeth and Grover anyway. Percy's eyebrow twitched; Apollo wasn't someone that gave up easily all right. She glared at him from the corner of her eye and saw her grinning like the sun. Then her gaze shifted to Annabeth and Grover. Annabeth's face was stormy ever since the two girls had argued—Percy insisted on leaving but Annabeth had ignored her and dragged Grover away; Grover looked nervously between the three of them.

Still angry, Percy turned to Apollo. "And you—"

"Why don't you and him go retrieve the shield together?" Annabeth interrupted.

"I don't know about that," Apollo mumbled to himself, but quickly cleared his throat after speaking. "I'm up for it," he said, glancing to the brunette. "Are you?"

"Grover and I will be waiting for you," the blonde said, refusing to meet the shorter girl's gaze. Without another word, the daughter of Athena abruptly turned and distanced herself. Percy gritted her teeth in frustration and glared at Apollo.

"Fine," she snapped. "Let's go." And she stormed in.

He laughed. "You're that eager?" he overtook Percy who was grumbling all the way, and headed down into the vacant pool. She followed, albeit hesitantly. The cupids decorating the exterior of the empty pool were insanely creepy. In the center of the ride was a pink and white two-seater boat. On the top of the boat was a heart-printed canopy.

They cautiously approached the boat. If a god had left one of his belongings there, it couldn't be completely safe. The demigoddess caught sight of glinting metal and Percy smirked. "It's that easy?"

Apollo shook his head. "It's never easy when it comes to us," he frowned. "Be careful, sweetheart." He called after Percy who walked ahead of him.

"Hey, look," the sun god said, picking up a scarf. "You getting cold? Have a silk scarf." He laughed as he wrapped it around an annoyed Percy's neck, nearly covering half her face. "You're a total stud, Percy."

Irritated, Percy ripped the scarf away from her face—she nearly gagged at the perfume smell on it—and stuffed it in her pocket. As she was reaching for the shield, Apollo caught sight of a thin, light line. It was a trip wire. Apollo was about to warn her when she decided to grab onto the shield and pull it out swiftly. A loud snap sounded and the sun god reached out to pull on the brunette's jacket, attempting to make a run for it. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Gears whirred from somewhere within the ride and the strange looking cupids surrounding the pool shot arrows, tied to ropes, and effectively managed to trap the god and demigoddess.

The cupids shot arrows once again, although they weren't aiming for the two current occupants—which was fine by them. Their lines and wires connected into a giant web. They watched on in shock as the heads of the statues opened, instantly being replaced by large cameras

"Live to Olympus in one minute," a loudspeaker's voice boomed, and continued to count down. Spotlights focused on them, nearly blinding the teens.

"Shit!" the sun god exclaimed. He laced his hand through Percy's as his eyes rapidly searched for a way out—he was too panicked to remember that he can teleport as a god, Percy realized. Grover and Annabeth yelled from somewhere off to their left and they soon were in sight. Their friends struggled in vain to hold open a section of the makeshift net, but failed to do so. As soon as they reached the rim of the pool, the row of mirrors opened up and made way for thousands of metallic creatures.

The daughter of Athena shrieked, hurrying away from the scene. Why would she act so frightened…? Percy finally got a good look of the critters and found her question answered. They were spiders. Dangerous, abnormally large, robotic spiders. Her jaw nearly dropped.

Finding no other option, the two of them rushed back over to the boat and climbed inside. The metal spiders were now coming from all around the pool, rushing to the center where the two were nearly cowering in their seat. Apollo didn't know about Percy, but cowering wasn't something he did often. He wouldn't be scared of course, but this trap scared even Ares off and this trap was built to trap _two gods._

They kicked the spiders away, yet some of the foul creatures had managed to crawl into the boat with them. There were just so many of them. Grover flew around the net, still attempting to cut a hole. Wait, flew? Apollo was distracted by the satyr's winged sneakers and left himself vulnerable. A spider lobbed off a part of the bottom of his boot and he angrily crushed it.

"Fifteen…fourteen," the loudspeaker announced once again.

Zeus' balls. The gods of Olympus were going to witness Percy making a fool out of herself. Just when she thought her life couldn't get any more awful, the icing was layered on top of the cake. She scanned for an escape route and saw _it_; seeing no choice, Percy decided to do it."Buckle up!" Percy screamed her warning. "Grover! Annabeth! Get to the control booth and turn the ride on!"

Was she out of her mind? Apollo looked at Percy, bewildered.

Not questioning her order (which was fairly uncommon for him), he strung the belt across his waist and quickly fastened it. The spiders wouldn't stop coming, and they were close to becoming overwhelmed with attacks.

"Five…four…"

The immortal son of Zeus shifted nervously in the seat. Whatever Percy was doing, she'd better do it quick. Percy buckled up next to him and he grabbed her hand. Percy would've slapped him if she weren't already freaking out. The suspense was killing her.

"Three, two, one!"

Water exploded from the pipes in the walls and rushed out like a demented waterfall. A tidal wave collided the side of the boat, sending them sailing in circles. Apollo was immediately soaked, as were the spiders. Sparks shot through the automatons, and they were whisked away by the water.

The boat continued to spin around in the small whirlpool. If it were possible, the spotlights glared harsher. Percy Jackson was now a mockery. And one thing she hated more than anything else in the fucking world, was being embarrassed publicly. Her father must be ashamed.

Percy closed her eyes, and Apollo realized she was trying to control the current that was pushing the boat. She was successful, and they were soon shooting into the darkened tunnel. If he weren't busy screaming his lungs out, he probably would have laughed at the ridiculous pictures of Romeo and Juliet on the wall and the various goofy love-symbolizing images and decorations—or make a haiku out of their situation.

As rapidly as they had sailed into the tunnel, they traveled out. They were now heading towards the exit. The only problem was, the exit gates were locked and if they didn't avoid flying into it, they would be smashed and possibly snapped in half.

"Unfasten your seat belt " Percy commanded, forcing the weak tone from her voice. She was the daughter of Kronos and she was anything but a coward. Apollo hurriedly did as she requested and gripped her hand even harder. She strapped Ares' shield to her other arm and cleared her throat. "On my mark," she said.

"But—"

Percy hated when others questioned her plans—which was the reason why she and Annabeth argued earlier. She glared at him. "On. My. Mark."

This time, he didn't argue. She could almost hear the laughter of the gods. Gritting her teeth, she concentrated on the task at hand. When would she know when to jump?

Trusting her instincts to guide her, she swallowed. A few seconds passed before she cried, "Now!"

The two leaped from the boat and Percy thanked her lucky stars that her instinct was right. She grinned wildly, before she realized she got them both too much a boost. Despite her better wishes, they landed on asphalt.

"Bloody Kronos," she panted out when she can breathe properly again. Percy's face flushed red when she noticed the cameras still weren't finished. "Show's over!" she yelled. "Thank you! Goodnight!"

The statues returned to their original positions around the pool. The spotlights shut off. Annabeth and Grover were staring at them in shock, their mouths agape. Percy waved a hand in front of their faces, but they still didn't budge.

"What?" Apollo asked.

Finally, they moved. Annabeth walked back towards the fence and began to climb it. Grover gasped. "That was awesome!"

The daughter of Kronos couldn't help but flash her trademark smug smirk. "I know, right?"

She was surprised Apollo wasn't questioning her abilities, but she chose not to think too much on it. Thinking had only ever harmed her before.

"It's been fun, sweetheart," Apollo said, ruffling Percy's hair. "But I've gotta go." He turned and sprinted around a corner before the pre-teens can say anything. Percy was only slightly surprised that she felt disappointed. She had crush on Apollo and aren't people supposed to be sad when their crushes left?

"I still don't know who he is or what he's doing here with us in the first place." Annabeth said.

Percy grunted. That was sometime she had no wish to discuss. She glared at the shield for all the trouble it caused. "Let's go," She said. "We've got a jerk to talk to."

**AxPxO**

* * *

A/N; The next chapter will feature the Olympians' reactions.

Tell me what you think?


	10. X

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Ten: Forbidden. Formidable.**

* * *

Zeus grumbled up on Olympus. The crazy son of his wouldn't leave Kronos bastard child alone. For Rhea sake, he was trailing Kronos' daughter like a lost puppy. Clenching his fists around his armrests, he tried to keep himself from lashing out. Percy Jackson had had the nerve to take his child into the Tunnel of Love. If his lightning bolt weren't at risk, he'd annihilate the demi-titan on the spot. Aphrodite's ranting didn't help matters at all, either.

"Oh, Lord Zeus, look at them! How could you want to kill that darling girl?"

The Lord of the Sky had to refrain from barfing. Was she suggesting that Apollo liked the daughter of Kronos? Yes, the answer was yes as he continued to watch what was on air; Hephaestus was entirely flabbergasted that he caught Apollo and a girl instead of his wife and her boyfriend. Apollo cared enough about the girl to stay with her and not teleport himself away.

Poseidon laughing despite the seriousness of the situation. Zeus grumbled even more, "I should have blasted her to bits the first chance I got." That wiped the smile off Poseidon's face.

Zeus didn't have much time to revel in his success of wiping the grin of his brother's face. Poseidon's face grew serious, "You know I won't tolerate you blasting my descendant to bits." Unfortunately, that was true. Percy Jackson was Poseidon's legacy as well as Tethys'—which only serve to make her stronger and more of a threat to them. Kronos chose the mother of his child well, he must've known that Sally Jackson was the demi-titan daughter of Tethys and that her father was Poseidon's legacy.

Zeus growled. "How can you not understand that she's a threat to us? The prophecy!"

"She's not my daughter." Poseidon countered. "Your daughter is still alive though—albeit in another form. You should heed your own advice; can you blast your daughter to bits?" He challenged.

Zeus held his tongue this time because he knew, he wouldn't—couldn't—hurt his daughter. He may not be a good father by mortal standards, but even he wouldn't hurt his own children. No one—but Kronos—would be that cold-hearted. But now, even Kronos seemed to be growing a heart for his first demi-titan daughter.

From what Morpheus—the god of dreams—had told him, Kronos had visited his daughter in her dream. While she didn't necessarily agree, she didn't decline his offer either: the offer to join him in the upcoming war. At least, now they know that there will be war—which was not good at all. And that wasn't the end of what Kronos had done for his daughter, some storm spirits reported to him that Kronos had been the one to save her from Medusa's curse—where she should have turned to stone the moment Medusa's eyes met hers, that Titan Lord slowed time for her until a _certain someone_ healed her.

Apollo. His own immortal son had gone behind his back and ignored the rules _and_ had healed the _enemy's daughter_. Did he not understand how much a risk it was? How dangerous it is? They can't let her leave, she might be their downfall. But _noooo,_ his son was foolishly in love. More in love than he had in...like, forever. What did he see in Percy Jackson anyway?

The doors creaked opened as Apollo entered— fashionably late—just as the Hephaestus Live finish. Everyone turned to look at him—even Hestia did, thought she usually ignored what they said on meetings unless it was very important, she looked bemused and amused at the same time.

Sarcastically, Ares said, "Had fun on your date?"

"Took the words out of my mouth," Poseidon muttered.

Apollo's charming grin—put on in hopes that they will forgive him for missing the gathering—slied off his face as soon he saw Ares. "You—" He took a deep breath to calm himself. "We need to talk after this." His smile was back on, but now it was different. It was cold and it fitted oddly on Apollo's features.

Artemis was puzzled. She'd sworn off men, and so, did not understand the concept of love. She couldn't comprehend how one girl can change Apollo so much. But that didn't mean she approved. "Apollo, we need to talk as well." Apollo shot her a cool look—which made Artemis heart ache for the annoyingly happy look he always give her—and nodded.

Zeus grumbled. "You missed the meeting, Apollo." He turned to the rest of the council. "Dismissed." He then left in a stroke of thunder. Poseidon muttered something along the lines of, "Dramatic...god of theater...suits him...better, less trouble." Then shimmered into water and disappeared.

**AxP**

Apollo wasn't feeling the love here. He wanted to speak with Ares but Artemis and Athena wanted to talk to him too. Ares' impatience was something he know well, so he spoke to the war god first. And he wasn't happy with his half-brother, in fact, he was pissed.

"You." Apollo jabbed a finger in Ares' chest. "I can't believe you would send Percy—and her friends—on a suicide retrieval—"

Ares waved his statement away. "Don't be ridiculous." He sneered. "You care about her, so what? You should know that you're immortal and she isn't. One day, she'll still die, and you'll forget about her just as you'd forgotten all your other mortal lovers." Then he'd stormed off.

And Aphrodite took his place just as Artemis approached him. She smiled sympathetically at him. "Your love can never be isn't it? How sad..." And she left just like that. He couldn't even begin to understand her when Artemis' disapproving face entered his line of sight.

"I don't approve of this...infatuation of yours, Apollo." Was the first thing out of her mouth. Her twin was already used to it.

He ran a hand through his hair. "You always don't approve of who I love."

"This is different!" Artemis' voice rose. "She may use this to manipulate you. You can never trust her!" There was only so much orders of forbidden Apollo can take. He turned and walked away, ignoring Artemis' last statement but hearing it all the same: "You can never be with her; she'll only hurt you in the end!"

The talk with Athena was even worse. It went like this:

"Apollo," Athena nodded curtly at him. Apollo looked glumly at her. Her face was both terrible—because of the stern and calculating expression—and beautiful—if you ignored the threatening looks in her face. Her hair shimmered, sometimes it was blonde the other second it was ebony locks curled around her shoulders. Her stormy grey eyes spoke of something in stored for Apollo, something he wouldn't like but must come through.

"Athena," He greeted back. His back unconsciously straightened in her presence—most likely because he was quite scared of her, she wasn't an enemy he want to make. "Is there something you need?" He tried to be as polite as possible even though he wanted to snap at her to leave him alone.

Her intense eyes didn't soften. "Apollo, you said you're infatuated with this...girl of Kronos'?" Apollo got a feeling that she wanted to say something other than 'girl' when addressing Percy and he felt slightly insulted in Percy's place. Athena was still waiting for answer, he realized and he nodded.

"Make her fall for you." Apollo stared blankly at her.

"Huh? What do you mean by that? I thought I wasn't suppose to—"

"If she loves you, you can manipulate her to tell you of her secrets or the plans Kronos had for us." Athena then broke into explaining all the upsides that they could get by doing so. All the while, as Apollo kept hearing what was being said, he felt sick.

He wanted to yell at Athena to stop talking but he couldn't. His mouth felt dry; his voice seemed to have left him. Even if he wanted Percy to love him, he doubted that it would be as easy as Athena make it to be. Percy was different from the mortal lovers he had, she didn't fall in love with him at first sight like all of them do—he didn't want it to be a casual fling either.

Percy was formidable that way. His eyes wandered away from Athena's face to the scenery behind the goddess. And his heart nearly stopped, his eyes widened in horror and surprise as they met golden eyes.

Gold eyes filled with hurt and betrayal.

"Percy!" He yelled, pushing past a very surprised Athena and rushed towards the girl that somehow appeared on Olympus.

But she was already gone. Her hissed words lingered in the air.

"_Traitor_."

**AxP**

Percy was crankier than usual, Annabeth observed as they crouched in their hiding spot. Once she woke up, Percy was rubbing her eyes, as if she was crying. The daughter of Athena wondered why Percy glared at her as if it was _her_ fault. She turned her attention back to the man that was in charge of their transport given by Ares. Humane Zoo Transport my ass, she thought. The two men imprisoned animals here and didn't even feed them properly—she pittied the animals.

"All right, here's the plan—" Annabeth was about to laid out the plans but Percy disagreed. Not with words, but with action. The daughter of Kronos jumped on the man and sucker-punched him in the face. The man struggled and apparently, he knew how to fight; he lashed out at his attacker but Percy was too skilled for him.

She proceeded to beat the shit out of him. "Free the animals! Let them cause a distraction!" She hollered.

Annabeth and Grover didn't hesitate to do what she'd ordered. The other man was already coming their way. The zebra was the first one out. It zoomed out and, for vengeance, kicked the second man—the driver—in the face with it's hooves then fled. Many people gathered to watch as a lion zoomed past next; some were whipping their phones out and taking pictures.

Percy had already beaten the first man black and blue—said man was now out cold. Grover winced in empathy and sympathy, he had been on the receiving end of the fist before. She kicked the man out of the truck and grabbed her bags. She looked—glared—at them. "Let's go!"

The three teens jumped out of the truck and ran for it. As they ran, Grover cheered, grinning wildly. "Taught those cruel mortals a thing or two!" Percy smirked in agreement.

"I hope they'll be safe," Annabeth commented, looking after the retreating animals.

"I put a satyr's sanctuary on them," Grover assured. "They'll reach the wild safely. Before you ask, Percy," he said, "it only works on animals."

"So, it'd work on her," the daughter of Athena added, pointing to Percy.

The brunette glared, her jaw tensing. "Watch it," she threatened.

"You jumped a mortal!" Annabeth argued. "There's no way you aren't some kind of animal."

"Annabeth," Percy interjected. "Just stop. We have to get out of here and arguing isn't helping—not worth it either. Police are going to investigate the unconscious truckers sooner or later." Annabeth begrudgingly admired her maturity—something Percy rarely showed—and agreed.

They sprinted down the longest street, hoping to reach some form of transportation. Eventually, they found themselves at a dead end, standing in front of a strange hotel.

"Lotus Hotel and Casino," the daughter of Kronos remarked thoughtfully. "I'm not one for gambling…but it looks like a good place to rest." She turned to look for the approval of the others. They nodded, immediately agreeing. It's not hard to tell that they were dead tired and wanted a place to crash for the night.

They get to rest, and maybe some gambling—even if she's not fond of it—can get her mind of the horrid dream of Apollo and Athena. Disgust swelled up within her, she couldn't believe she had a crush for that bastard.

She absolutely loathed him now.

**AxP**

* * *

A/N; I know some of you are confused about the pairings—honestly, I'm too. I changed it to Leo because I thought he was quite similar to Apollo in terms of personality. But I also want Octavian and Jason to be paired with Percy. So maybe it will be a Percy harem until I got a pairing I like or maybe the majority of you readers like.

Who do you think she should end up with in the end? Leave your opinion in your review!


	11. XI

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Eleven: Gazing Into The Abyss. The Lightning Thief.**

* * *

Percy wasn't one to complain when she got free treatment. But even she was getting suspicious. The Lotus Hotel and Casino gave them free service. And for the first part, Percy enjoyed it. She hadn't bathed in a few days and finally having one was refreshing. She changed into clothes that were provided—which oddly, fitted her, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than she had in a long time.

Except for her stupid dream. Earlier, when she had been on the lorry, asleep she dreamed of her father in Tatarus speaking to someone she was sure she knew well—but now, she couldn't remember his name or face though his voice was familiar. Then, her father decided to give her a 'parting gift' since they wouldn't be seeing one another for quite a while: her father showed her what was happening on Olympus. She'd eavesdropped on Apollo and Athena in a middle of their conversation and what she heard hadn't been pleasant. Apollo didn't even say anything!—which meant he agreed to go along with her!

Percy cut off her train of thought abruptly. Her good mood had all but vaporize when she thought about _him_—what a jerk. She opened the door and headed into where Annabeth and Grover were; they both had showered and were now munching on snacks and watching T.V.

"All those stations," Percy looked at her incredulously, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"It's interesting."

"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."

Without him even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again. Percy wondered what was wrong with them. Luke had been too _shy_—she sense something fishy there—to give it to Grover and gave it to her instead, asking her to let Grover take their luggage since he was a gentleman. Children of Hermes were not to be trusted; she'd instantly shove the shoes into Grover's lap, she had no wish to be prank.

"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"

Grover and Percy looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their green plastic LotusCash cards. "Play time," Percy said, smirking slyly.

Percy bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. She saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. She thought the game was ridiculous.

She also saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D Sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. Percy didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it.

It was when Percy noticed the guy standing next to her at the VR sharpshooters when she first realized something's wrong. He was about thirteen, but his clothes were weird. She first thought he was some Elvis impersonator's son. He wore bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl's on homecoming night.

They played a game of sharpshooters together and he said, "Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better."

_Groovy?_—Whoever says that anymore?—Percy looked at the guy, baffled but since they're playing a game she didn't think much of it.

Later, while they were talking, she'd said something was "sick," and he looked at the daughter of Kronos baffled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before. He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as she started asking him questions he got bored with her and started to go back to the computer screen.

Percy said, "Hey, Darrin?"

"What?"

"What year is it?"

He frowned at the younger and shorter girl beside him. "In the game?"

"No. In real life."

He had to think about it—which set Percy odd, how can he not know the year? "1977."

"No," Percy insisted, something nagged at her to, her heart started thumping loudly from fear. "Really." She glared. "Don't kid with me." It was her famous 'mess-with-me-and-you're-dead-meat' stare.

"Hey, lady. Bad vibes. I got a game happening."

After that he totally ignored Percy. That set her off, she wasn't someone that liked being ignore. So she punched his lights out. Spit on his unconscious form and stormed off. She started asking other people the year and date and what happened you ask? This happened: Percy punched those that ignored her, threatened those that answered vaguely and throttling those that waved her away.

"Damn it all," She cursed. She turned around, intent on finding the daughter of Athena when she ran into a kid. He fell on his ass while Percy merely stumbled back. She glared at the boy, ready to snap at him, but then noticed the boy—that seemed to be the same age as her or maybe younger, but shorter—looked insanely unfortunate. He wore a pair of dark, striped trousers, a torn and dirty white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and he was barefoot. A worn hat sat on top of his curly black hair. Had that kid not gotten new clothes? But still, he reminded her of someone famous.

Percy had quite a soft spot for kids and knowing that the kid's parents may have neglected him made her want to help him. "Hey, kiddo. Why don't you come with me to the Lotus store? I'll get ya some new clothes."

He smiled slightly, his dark hazel eyes glinting in the lights—Percy thought it was beautiful. "Okay," he said shyly, weaving his hand through hers. Percy flushed slightly at the contact but didn't say anything about it. They chatted but when Percy bring out the topic of time, he couldn't tell; she'd inadvertently insulted him. Things were awkward then, and after Percy got him new clothes—all black and goth since he liked black—they parted with an awkward goodbye.

Percy watched as Nico di Angelo—at least he remembered his own name—dissolved into the crowd. She turned, ready to find Annabeth when a particular game caught her eye. She wanted to play, but something nagged at her not to. She brushed it off and—

_Wake! Do not linger, daughter; leave. Now!_—Kronos' voice, filled with contempt; disgust and a hint of panic jarred Percy. Her mind felt as if someone had fried it. She stumbled a few steps before she got her bearings. Fear and panic filled her heart—_how long have we been in here? It felt like hours but..._—as she bolted toward Annabeth.

"Annie!" She yelled, knowing that the nickname will irritate the girl enough to stir. But her heart dropped when the daughter of Athena only threw her an annoyed look and return to her game—building 3-D and stuff. "Spiders!" Percy threatened; and to her luck—thank Tyche—a spider conveniently crawled by. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn't help but relish in sadistic pleasure: she pluck the spider and place it on her blonde friend's nose.

Annabeth screamed bloody murder; Percy couldn't help but chuckle. The blonde swatted the spider from her face then turned to glare at Percy. But before she can say anything, Kronos' daughter beat her to it. "We've got to get out of here!" She snapped, grabbing the other girl's arm and dragged her to find Grover. "The quest, damn it." She spat when the blonde stared blankly at her.

"We've got to find Grover first," Annabeth snapped, yanking her arm from Percy's hold.

The younger girl rolled her eyes and said, "Duh," then stormed off. Getting Grover to snap out of it was a little more harder. But one hard knock-out punch from Percy—which rewarded the satyr with a broken nose and the loss of a tooth—was more than enough. The commotion the girl caused though, alerted security.

The three teens bolted for the entrance, not caring that they left their bags. Percy shifted the bag so that it settled much more comfortably on her back—Wait! Percy looked at the bag Ares had given her suspiciously—she was sure she hadn't gone back to take it... maybe it's properties was the same with her Riptide?

"Fuck," Percy turned, rather interested and giddy that her friend had succumbed to cussing, to look at Annabeth who rarely cursed.

"What's fucked?" Percy laughed but the sound died in her throat as she looked at the newspaper Annabeth was holding. "What the _Hades? _We've been in there for_ that _long?!" She screeched.

"One more day," Grover bleated. "Just one more day before the summer solstice. It's over; the world's going to end."

_And isn't that what father wanted? I should be happy that his plans are succeeding, but... why do I feel such dread?_—Percy's mind raced with thoughts she didn't want to think about. Apollo was one of the reasons, she doubted he would like war. And the thought of bringing pain to him made her chest squeeze.

She told herself that she didn't care. But it was hard not to.

**AxP**

Unbelievable, Percy couldn't believe that she'd ran from mortal thugs. And it was what had landed her and her friends in this spot. Percy's mind raced as she tried to form a plan to save her friends—who were now being stretched to the perfect height and close to death.

"Your real name's not Crusty, is it?" Percy asked, not really caring but just wanting to but time.

"Legally, it's Procrustes," he admitted.

"The Stretcher," Percy said. She remembered the story: the giant who'd tried to kill Theseus with excess hospitality on his way to Athens.

"Yeah," the salesman said. "But who can pronounce Procrustes? Bad for business. Now 'Crusty,' anybody can say that."

"You're right. It's got a good ring to it."

His eyes lit up. "You think so?"

"Oh, absolutely," Percy said. "And the workmanship on these beds? Fabulous!"

He grinned hugely, but his fingers didn't loosen on the daughter of Kronos' neck. "I tell my customers that. Every time. Nobody bothers to look at the workmanship. How many built-in Lava Lamp headboards have you seen?"

"Not too many."

"That's right!"

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, don't mind her," Percy told Procrustes. "She's impossible."

They continued to convers, Percy's panic rising with each passing second. When she found her chance, she seized it. "Show me," She insisted, hoping to all the Titans and gods that he will fall for her trick.

He fell for it and Percy nearly dance a happy dance. He sat down eagerly on the bed, patted the mattress and reclined in his seat. "No waves. See?"

Percy, smirking cruelly, snapped her fingers. "Ergo." Ropes lashed around Crusty and flattened him against the mattress.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Center him just right," the daughter of Kronos ordered. The ropes readjusted themselves at her command. Crusty's whole head stuck out the top. His feet stuck out the bottom.

"No!" he said. "Wait! This is just a demo."

Percy uncapped Riptide and sneered, "A few simple adjustments ..." She looked pointedly at Crusty's head. She had no qualms about what she was about to do. If Crusty were human, she couldn't hurt him anyway. If he was a monster, he deserved to turn into dust for a while.

"You drive a hard bargain," Crusty said through gritted teeth at Percy. "I'll give you thirty percent off on selected floor models.'"

"I think I'll start with the top." Percy raised her sword.

"No money down! No interest for six months!" Crusty tried another desperate attempt._ Can't he not tell that she wasn't interested in whatever he was trying to offer? And who would trust a monster?_—Percy swung the sword. Crusty stopped making , trying to stifle inappropriate laughter, cut the ropes on the other beds. Annabeth and Grover got to their feet, groaning and wincing and cursing their brunette friend a lot; to which, Percy giggle in reply.

"Come on, we've got to got now." Percy grumbled impatiently, tapping her foot repeatedly on the ground in rhythm.

"Give us a minute, we're almost stretched to death." Annabeth grunted in pain, flexing her limbs to make sure they were still intact. Personally, Percy thought it was too dramatic.

"Right. Then you should listen to this—bad news or good news first?" Percy paused, looking inquiringly at her two friends.

"Good one first."

"We're a block from the Underworld." Percy said, her voice filling with dread. Annabeth bit down hard on her bottom lip, nearly drawing blood but she gestured for Percy to finish with the bad news anyway.

Percy smirked, "We're a block from _the Underworld_."

**AxP**

"Drown in a bathtub? All three of us?" Percy laughed as the thought about the earlier events. Grover's face was turning bright red as even Annabeth joined in on the laughter. "Have it ever occurred to you that we girls wouldn't take a bath with a boy?"

"Shut up. Just shut up." Grover mumbled. Then he straightened and glared at Percy. "Yeah. And we learned that your plans really, really, bites."

That stopped Percy's laughter. The girl pouted childishly and crossed her arms. "Not my fault that the stupid Ceberus favors someone else and a red ball." Annabeth's face dropped slightly at the thought of abandoning her new friend but she forged on ahead.

As the demigoddesses and satyr continued further into the Fields of Asphodel, the colors began to fade from their clothing and the already gloomy atmosphere darkened remarkably. The deeper they went, the fewer spirits there were. They walked for miles before they heard a menacing shriek. On the horizon, was a spookily glittering obsidian palace. The Furies circled above the parapets, screeching in warning. Annabeth had a gut feeling that the demons had been expecting them which made her wonder just how much Hades knew.

"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said, gulping.

Percy, looking very unsure, steeled her nerves and faced the rest of them. "We'll be fine," she said. Annabeth could tell she was trying her best to sound confident, but he was far from it. But something disturbed her, the brunette was hiding something and it didn't bode well with Athena's daughter.

Grover looked like he was going to object, but something seemed to take him off guard and he yelped. His sneakers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward. He landed flat on his back in the grass. "Grover," Annabeth said. "Stop messing around."

"But, I didn't—"

He yelped again. His shoes flapped frantically. They rose from the ground and began to carry the satyr away from the rest of them. "Maia!" he shouted, looking close to tears. "Maia, damn it! Call the police, somebody! Help!"

Percy was the first of the three to react. She reached out to snag Grover's hand, but she didn't act quickly enough. The satyr rapidly shot downhill, and the demigods hurriedly chased after him, struggling to keep up. "Untie the shoes!" the daughter of Athena yelled helpfully.

Unfortunately, it wasn't physically possible to calmly untie a pair of shoes while they were propelling someone at the speed of light. He attempted to sit up to get to his shoes, but he was unable to. When it looked like the satyr was going to break directly through the gates of Hades' palace, he veered sharply to the right and began to travel full speed into another direction.

The demigods were running as fast as they could, trying in vain to keep up with their friend, as the slope grew steeper and the satyr picked up speed. They entered a side tunnel, the cavern walls narrower. They ran across solid rock, no plant life in sight.

"Grover!" Percy called, wheezing already—she was a horrible runner; sure she could stop time, but her father had warned her that because time was an element only an immortal could control, her life force would be sucked out to power her control. Stopping time in the Underworld would be like requesting to meet her half-brother, Hades, and stay with him permanently. "Hold on to something!"

He tried to hold onto gravel, but it mercilessly tore apart his fingernails and scraped his calloused fingertips. The cruel tunnel grew chillier and darker. They caught sight of the end of the tunnel, marked by a huge chasm in the ground; Percy's heart plummeted. Grover was moments away from sliding into it. Percy came to an abrupt halt.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth shouted, slipping her hand through hers. She tugged her along. She resisted and she threw the shorter girl an exasperated look. "Grover is going to fall if we don't catch him!" Annabeth warned.

At her words, the daughter of Kronos sprinted forward with her friend. Grover shouted desperately, latching himself onto a huge rock as the left shoe flew right off of his hoof. It soared down into the pit. He was nearly ten feet from the chasm when the demigods caught up to him and hauled him back up. The other shoe flew off as well, kicking Grover in the head roughly for good measure, before following its companion into the pit. Percy thought it was stupid of it—but did it even have brains?

The three of them tiredly collapsed onto the gravel. Percy's body felt jaded, and the backpack strung across her shoulders felt heavier than ever.

"How?" Grover panted, lifting his bloody hands to his gaze.

"Wait," Percy said. "Listen."

Annabeth strained her ears. It took her a while to notice it—a deep whisper sounded from the chasm, speaking words of a forgotten language, one even older than Greek.

"What's this place?" the satyr whimpered, cautiously peering down.

"Tartarus," Percy announced with dread and resignation, her golden irises blown in terror. "The entrance to Tartarus. I've been here before."

"How?" Grover asked, bewildered.

"Why," a raspy ancient voice answered in a drawl instead of Percy. "to visit her beloved father of course."

The satyr and daughter of Athena screamed in terror. "K-Kronos." Grover bleated, his eyes turning into slits due to fear. At least Annabeth wasn't showing it so blatantly, he should be ashamed.

"Father," Percy greeted. She was slightly irritated that the bag seemed to grow heavier and she frowned—clothes shouldn't weight much at all... so how...?

"Alas, daughter. You came. Now hand it over." Annabeth was glad that Kronos wasn't here in person or she would've fainted in terror. She looked at Percy and saw that she was probably as scared as she was even if the Titan was her father.

"Um, hand what over?" Percy was baffled. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing she was carrying that Kronos might have wanted. Unless he wanted the bag given by Ares which only have... "Dad, I don't—" Her eyes widened in realization. Bag. Ares. War god. War would benefit him, having a hero to steal the lightning bolt and blame it on another god or hero would start what he wanted!

"So you've realized." Kronos laughed. His laughter sent shivers and chills down Annabeth's spine.

Despite her throat feeling as if someone had make her eat sand, she managed to ask. "What did he meant by that?" She looked imploringly at Percy.

In answer, Percy, with trembling hands, reached into the bag. Annabeth choked on her own spit as she looked upon Zeus' master bolt. She looked at Percy in disbelief and betrayal. "How could you? You lied to us!"

Percy was shaking so badly that she could've dropped the bolt. "I-I didn't..." She stammered. "I really didn't! Ares gave the bag to me; he framed me!"

"Who cares about the petty war god?" Kronos snorted, his voice echoing throughout the ares. "Now throw the bolt into Tatarus. Give it to me!"

Annabeth's grey eyes begged Percy not to. But the daughter of Kronos didn't seem to notice the look. Trembling and clutching the thing that had nearly cost their lives, Percy walked toward the edge of the pit.

Percy held out the bolt—Annabeth's eyes widened in horror—Grover prayed for whatever god to save them—

"Percy!"

**AxP**

* * *

A/N: Cliffhanger... Can you guess who called Percy?

Review and maybe I won't make you wait long. *insert evil laugh*


	12. XII

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Twelve: Wicked Downfall. One Way Or Another.**

* * *

Percy looked up, stunned. "You**—**"She never got the chance to finish the sentence.

Annabeth, taking the chance that Percy was distracted, lunged for Zeus' master bolt. The shorter girl's attention snapped back to her; she glared at her. "Let _go_, Annabeth." Said girl wasn't willing but she knew she couldn't possibly overpower the daughter of Kronos in her home turf; Tatarus which was where Kronos dwell was just below them.

"Grover! Now!" Thank the gods the satyr understood. Grover swept Percy's feet out, making her tumbled to the edge of the pit, her grip on the bolt loosening considerably. Annabeth snatched the bolt and seeing Percy starting to rise, whacked her across the face with it.

Only then did she realize how foolish she was. Annabeth's scream was lost in place of Percy's scream as the daughter of Kronos tumbled down into Tatarus.

"Percy!" Shakily, Grover and Annabeth turned to see who had yelled her name earlier—an ally or enemy? Annabeth's shoulders sagged in relief when she saw that it was Luke.

"Luke... what are you doing here? How did you get here?" She asked, her fingers trembling; she tightened her grip on Zeus' master bolt when she saw the Furies hovering high up behind Luke.

"Son of Hermes, remember?" Luke shrugged, but his face darkened as if he couldn't believe he had said that. "Anyway..." he trailed off, taking in the situation. "Hand the bolt to me, Annabeth."

The gears in Annabeth's brain whirled till the pieces fit. She glared at Luke, tears forming in her eyes but she refused to let it spill; refuse to show any weakness to the likes of him. "It was you! _You_ were the lightning thief; but Ares caught you. Yet you managed to convince him to let you go and help you. Ares placed Zeus' master bolt in the bag and gave it to Percy; so that somehow she would be able to deliver it to Kronos. _You_ gave the cursed flying shoes to Percy so that she would cursed it on one of us! _You_ and _Percy_ _were working with him_! _You're a bloody traitor_!"

Luke chuckled darkly. He spread his arms wide, as if he wanted to hug someone. "You truly are a daughter of Athena. That's right. But Percy wasn't involve at all—as far as I'm concerned anyway; I told her to give it to Grover and she did like a good little girl would. She didn't even know who she really was until she came to camp. Framed or forced to help would be a better word to describe how Percy's involve. But alas, she fell into Tatarus..." He trailed off, his face mockingly sympathetic but Annabeth knew there wasn't any real pity in his eyes for the fate of the girl.

"Now then," Luke continued, drawing Backbiter. "I have to kill you. It's nothing personal, really. Once Lord Kronos rule, a new era will begin and unfortunately, neither of you are invited."

Annabeth swallowed, trying to form a plan. Grover was too terrified to even move and Annabeth wasn't sure she can take down Luke or not. Her gaze wondered to the bolt that ached to be used. Can she? Might as well try, she decided. Aiming the weapon at Luke, she imagined an arc of lightning shooting out of the bolt.

Luke flew backwards, his back colliding with a rather large stone. Something tumbled out of his coat and it took Annabeth a moment to realize that it was Hades' helm of darkness. Grover started waving madly at the Furies. "Hades' helm is here!" He yelled repeatedly, hoping for the Furies' assistance.

Annabeth lunged and kicked the helm away from Luke's reach. One of the Furies was faster than the rest, she managed to grasp it before it can tumble into Tatarus. She didn't care what happened to Hades' helm; she turned to Grover. "The pearls! It's in the bag! Hurry!"

Grover scrambled to the bag, and rummaged through it. "Come on, come on," He chanted. "It has to be here." He hoped that Percy hadn't kept it in her pocket. Something glowed in the darkness of the bag and Grover made a desperate grab for it. He cupped the two precious pearls, marvelling at their good luck—Tyche had finally shine on them. "Annie!" He called as the girl ran to him.

His gazed locked on the bag Ares had given to Percy—poor Percy, being forced to take part in a role she had no wish of playing. There were only two pearls there, one of them must still be in the bag. He didn't know how much this would help Percy, but he kicked the bag into Tatarus anyway, hoping that the daughter of Kronos would be able to get the remaining pearl so she could escape from Tatarus.

Annabeth was so desperate to get out of the Underworld that she didn't even reprimand him for calling her that. She grabbed one of the pearls and together, they threw it on the ground and smashed it. For a terrible moment, nothing happened. Grover closed his eyes, hoping that he wouldn't be able to feel the pain as Luke's sword descended upon them.

He only dared to open them when no pain came. His eyes took in the sphere of bubble surrounding both him and Annabeth; and Luke cursing down, by the entrance to Tatarus.

He took comfort in Annabeth's presence and tried to comfort her, but he didn't know how to control the sobs coming from Annabeth. She _had_ loved Luke, he knew and she cared about Percy deeply. Loosing both of them in less than an hour had a deep impact on her.

And Annabeth didn't appreciate pity. So he and her were silent the whole way to Olympus. When she was depressed and livid, Annabeth was terrifying. Even the man guarding the key up to Olympus didn't want to argue with her once she turned her stormy, rimmed red from crying, grey eyes to him.

The song played in the elevator was awful. Grover made a joke about it but Annabeth didn't even crack a smile. Seriously, she was starting to worry Grover.

_Ding!_ After a few long minutes, the doors to the elevator opened. The two friends stepped out and nearly fainted from the sight. Below their feet was a narrow, floating stone walkway. In front of them, beautiful white marble steps wound up the spine of a distanced cloud.

From the top of the clouds rose the headless peak of a royal mountain, its summit masked by snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multilevel palaces. Mansions littered the different levels clad with white-columned porticoes gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with the might of several fires. Roadways wound up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed in the fogged sunlight. The snow around them caused the magnificent palace to stand out even more, glowing like an enlightening mirage in the middle of the desert.

Beautiful, plentiful gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. In the distance, they could barely see an open-air market filled with colorful stands. A stone amphitheater was built on a separate side of the mountain, and a hippodrome and an ancient battle arena on the other. It resembled a restored Ancient Greece.

"It's beautiful," Annabeth, for the first time ever since they came out of the Underworld, spoke. "But... Percy would have made a sarcastic or scathing remark of how Mount Orthys was prettier than this."

"True," Grover said. Percy had told them about her dream of Mount Orthys, telling them of her father's offer; she hadn't agreed to join him. And she felt connected enough with them to tell them of her dream—this show just how much she trusted them. And the pain of loosing her and betraying her that had cost her her life would be worse on Annabeth since it was her that had shoved Percy into Tatarus. Grover couldn't even begin to understand how it would feel like to be the cause of the lost of your best friend.

The two finally reached the throne room. "Ready?" Grover asked Annabeth. She looked at him, the satyr couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she nodded.

The throne room was huge. It made the entire city of Manhattan look like a ladybug. It was weird to think that something bigger than the city was resting directly above it. Impressive columns rose up to a dome ceiling, littered with moving constellations.

Twelve massive thrones were arranged in an inverted U, similar to the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. A giant raging fire, easily stomping all the other fires they had seen around Olympus, glowed in the central hearth pit. All of the thrones except for four of it were occupied.

The two immediately knelt. From under her bangs, Annabeth studied the four gods that had gathered. Two at the front were undoubtedly brothers—Zeus and Poseidon. Then the other two was—Athena, her mother and... Fred? _Impossible!_—Annabeth thought as she gazed at Fred—or should she say, Apollo, the sun god. He'd helped on their quest; wasn't that against the ancient rules? What was he thinking? What had—

Oh, Percy. Apollo's normally cheerful face was stormy; livid in fact. Zeus and Poseidon seemed to have calm down from an argument. Athena's face had a mixture of pride and happiness in it; it made Annabeth's chest swell with pride to know she had pleased her mother.

"Well?" Zeus grumbled impatiently. "Tell us, what had happened to your... other questmate."

Athena nodded encouragingly. Swallowing, Annabeth started telling them everything, including Apollo's part in their quest. Her voice cracked though when she described Percy's fall into Tatarus and Luke's betrayal so Grover took over from there.

The four exchanged a glance before they started arguing in Ancient Greek; Annabeth and Grover could barely tell what they were saying. All Annabeth could understand was: "father" "rising" "trouble". She didn't bother asking who they were talking about: Kronos, that's who. Poseidon made a suggestion but Zeus cut him off.

Poseidon scowled. "This... does not concern me anymore. May I take my leave now, brother?" That question was directed at Zeus but it was more of a demand than a question.

Zeus nodded. "I shall have to wash your mortal taint off my bolt." He left in a flash of thunder.

"Your grandfather," Athena sighed. "would have made a suitable god of theater."

"Never thought the day would come where you agree on something with Uncle Poseidon." Apollo remarked, trying to grin but failing terribly. He turned to the heroes, ignoring Athena's cries of protest. "Anyway, good job, guys." His smile was wobbly, his eyes sad as he gave that praise. "I-I got something to do." In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Athena sighed before smiling slightly at Annabeth. "Satyr, if you don't mind..."

"O-of course, Lady Athena," Grover bowed before leaving. He threw Annabeth a look that said, _Good luck, girl_.

Annabeth had never met her mother before, but she believed that in times of need, her mother had spoken to her, to give her guidance. She shifted on her feet awkwardly, "Is there something you need, mother?"

"I wanted to tell you, Annabeth, that I'm proud of you."

Annabeth nearly beamed with pride; she would've if Percy was waiting with Grover outside, not rotting in Tatarus. "Thank you." She muttered.

"But," Athena said, tone disapproving. "I do not approve of your friendship and concern with the daughter of Kronos." Annabeth nearly flinched at her mother's tone. "It doesn't matter now, Percy Jackson is gone, there's nothing to worry about anymore."

Annabeth refrained from crying in front of her mother. "Mom, are you sure Percy really is dead?"

Athena blinked. "We'll see."

_What does that mean?_—Annabeth wasn't sure what her mother meant but she didn't dare question it. She bowed stiffly and took her leave. She met up with Grover at the elevator.

"So, what did your mother say?" He asked.

She frowned and shrugged. "We should go back to camp—" She stopped as the memory of Percy's true intention of coming on the quest surfaced. "Oh no! Percy's mother—"

"Is safe." Grover finished.

"What?" Annabeth asked, bewildered. "But how?"

"A messenger from Hades told me to pass this on to you: Sally Jackson is safe." Grover recited. "But I don't really trust the Lord of the Dead. We should go check on her. For Percy you know..."

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Let's go."

Grover knew where Percy once lived in. He led the way and they both hailed a cab to her apartment. For two reasons: One, to say that Percy was never coming back. Two, to check that Mrs. Jackson was truly safe. It was the least they can do for Percy.

Confronting Sally Jackson on the other hand, was a different story. Annabeth and Grover was introduced to the home that Percy had once lived in; it was contaminated by a pig of a man. Sally herded them into Percy's room so that they wouldn't be interrupted.

"My daughter... where is she? Why isn't she here with you?" Sally asked anxiously. When she posted the question however, the two not-so-human kids looked downcast. "Did something happened to her?" She was worried, she knew her daughter would be the first to greet her if she can; she feared the worst.

"Percy—she... fell into Tatarus." Annabeth managed to choke out. She dreaded Sally's reaction; she had come to like the woman—such a nice woman, how on earth did she fell in love with Kronos? "But, Mrs. Jackson, that doesn't mean she'd dead—"

"That's right," Sally responded calmly; her reaction baffled the satyr and demigod, making them worried for the woman's sanity. "Call it mother's intuition, but I know she isn't dead. One day, she'll come back home."

**AxP**

No words could describe how devastated Apollo felt. He felt guilty that he hadn't been there for her—Hermes owed him, he could have asked his best friend to sneak him into the Underworld. And worst of all, they hadn't make things right with one another.

She totally got the wrong idea that he only wanted to use her. She'd died thinking he didn't care and was using her all the time. When he'd met the two travelling with Percy, he barely managed to not snap at the daughter of Athena—_what was she thinking? Couldn't she see back then that they were at the edge of the pit? Did she not know that one slight push was all it take to tumble into Tatarus?_—even though he knew he would suffer from Athena's wrath.

The other girl he had truly loved got turned into a tree. And now the other girl he truly loved fell into Tatarus. His love life was miserable—what had he done to offend Aphrodite?—and his sister disliked him for being a male. As if he had chosen to be one.

Artemis could only watched as her brother wallow in his own self-pity and misery. The Hunters looked at him oddly, because, for the first time, he didn't try to flirt with them—not that they were complaining.

The moon goddess sighed, just one girl and he's acting like the world has ended. He was an immortal; he'll get over it soon, she thought, but seeing him now—his reaction so much greater before to a loss of someone he loved—she doubted her own thought.

_What was so special about Percy Jackson?_

**AxP**

Chiron took the news calmly. But Annabeth can see the regret and pity in the old centaur's eyes. She also couldn't help but feel a little resentment to him—he judged her unfairly. He'd never gave her a chance even though Percy was his half-sister.

Chiron had to admit that even _he_ was anticipating his half-sister's—he'd come to terms that he should treat Percy better than ignoring her; it wasn't her fault who her father was—and her friends' return. But alas, only Annabeth and Grover made it back with the news of Percy's fall into Tatarus and Luke's betrayal.

Not many campers were sad about it; but they pitied the daughter of Kronos for a fate she did not choose. That emotion was mostly overwhelmed by their hate towards Luke's betrayal. No one but those that had almost been considered friends of Percy's—Silena and Beckendorf—thought about her.

Chiron wanted to treat her fairly, to give her another chance. But now—it was too late; she was gone.

**AxP**

"Hey, Thalia. Did you know, this summer I went on a quest? I met a girl—her name's Percy Jackson—that was a lot like you, you know? She's strong, brave, loyal, sarcastic, blunt, cares a lot for her friends and acts before she thinks—just like you right? But now... like you... she's gone too." Annabeth relinquished her palm that was placed on the pine tree that contained the life force of a fallen hero—Thalia, the daughter of Zeus.

Annabeth hesitated once as she walked to the van, glancing back to camp.

"I'll be back next summer, I promise."

As expected, Thalia the pine tree didn't answer. But that didn't bother Annabeth; one way or another, she knew Thalia can hear her.

She just can't answer.

**AxP**

* * *

A/N; All right guys—DON'T. FLAME. ME. I won't tell you whether Percy lives or not – the answer should be quite obvious. Also, vote in my profile for which story you want to read first.

For the Sea of Monsters, who should accompany Annabeth on the quest for the Golden Fleece?

Travis?

Connor?

Clarisse?

Ethan?

Do review and tell me!


	13. XIII

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Thirteen: Thieves And Wisdom.**

* * *

Thirteen-year-old Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena was having a rotten day. No, her whole year ever since her first quest had been rotten. She'd been chased by monsters in her whole way to camp—which was in danger and now, she was rushing back to save it.

But her sense of justice—which was influenced by Percy; her loss still brought a pang to Annabeth's heart—wouldn't let her just walk away when she spotted a school on fire. She heard the roar of monsters, and knew that there was a demigod somewhere in the school. She rushed into the gym, where the monster was. It's back was facing her and so, taking the oppurtunity that she was invisible, she stabbed the monster with a dagger.

When the monster disintegrated, the last person she expected to see was standing there.

"Travis? Connor? What are you two doing here?" Annabeth nearly rolled her eyes when the two brothers, sons of Hermes'—that could've passed off as twins but in truth they were not—gawked stupidly at her.

"Annabeth?" Travis Stoll's jaw dropped when he saw her. "What are you doing here?"

"You look like you've been through the blender." Connor Stoll, the younger of the brothers, commented. And his statement was true: the daughter of Athena's blonde hair was a rat nest, her clothes were torn dirty, a chunk of her shoe were gone and her skin was littered with cuts and bruises.

"There's no time to explain," Annabeth snapped. "We have to—"

"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.

"Meet me outside," Annabeth told the two boys. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that neither of the brothers understand. "You'd better bring him."

"_What_?"

"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"

She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, and instantly vanished, leaving Travis and Connor in the gym-on-fire. Travis snapped out of it first. He looked at Tyson—someone they'd befriended in their time out of camp—and Connor, "Come on!" Then he jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.

The three boys met Annabeth outside, in an alleyway where she'd made her dislike for Tyson clear. The Stoll brothers were only a few pegs higher than him in her books. "Camp," she said. "Big trouble at camp. We have to go help them."

"From what?" Travis asked.

Annabeth ignored him and pulled out a gold coin that Travis recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

"Annabeth," Connor said, sighing. "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

"Did you hit your head somewhere on your way here?" Travis sighed sympathetically. "Poor you."

Annabeth glared at them but she concentrated on her task at hand. "_Stêthi_," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "_Ô hárma diabolês_!"

Travis' jaw dropped. "Chariot of Damnation?" He echoed incredulously. "You want us to ride that?"

She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared. "Cool," Connor commented, "But aren't you wasting money?" Annabeth wanted to slap him but she knew she couldn't do it.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze. Hearing inhuman screeching coming from inside the car made the Stoll brothers' hearts drop.

**CxA**

Even at Camp, Annabeth was miserable. Firstly, when they got of the Grey Sisters' cab, they had to fight bronze-on-fire-bulls and had nearly died. Luckily, Tyson was there to pummel the bulls to death. Then Chiron was fired, they had a jerk of a prisoner—who was still cursed, serves him right—to replace Chiron. Then there were the chariot races: Annabeth was teamed up with Connor and they ended up arguing because of Tyson. Travis and Tyson teamed up, they managed to finish up their chariot faster than Annabeth and Connor did, which didn't bode well with Annabeth.

"I'd much rather do this with Percy—" Connor had said before stopping, which was like rubbing salt into Annabeth's wounds because she had been thinking the same thing. But still, she was slightly curious as to how close Connor and Percy had been—but chose not to ask.

Then, in the middle of the chariot races, demon pigeons attacked them. The Stoll brothers, Annabeth and Tyson had stopped them by broadcasting Chiron's collection of rock-n-roll music. And got punished to wash dishes by Tantalus. Then when Travis brought up the subject of his dream—about Grover and the Golden Fleece that can save camp—and they'd agreed to turn it into a quest, Tantalus ruined their plan by giving the quest to Clarisse.

"Fucking shit," Annabeth cursed. She rarely ever did, but hanging out with Percy had that effect on her; she'd learned mortal curses and started using more and more ever since Percy's death—a way to remember her.

"A lady shouldn't curse you know," A man's voice chided her and she nearly spewed soda. She turned around to see a man that seemed to be in his mid-twenties, dressed as if he was jogging. His face was familiar: he resembled Luke and the Stoll brothers.

"Lord Hermes," She greeted. When the god of thieves sat next to her—in a polite distance—she knew it would be a very long night.

**CxA**

Annabeth's eyebrow twitched. "So... you mean you want me to go, anyway? And possibly try to retrieve the Fleece so I can come back to camp?" The words that Percy would have said hung in the air: _Are you crazy, mister?_—thinking that, hearing Percy's voice resound in her mind, it was almost as if the daughter of Kronos was there, in her place, the one saying it.

Hermes grinned cheekily. "That's right." He snapped his fingers and four bags appeared. "I hoped I prepared well for all four of you. Now then," He stood up and dusted his jogging pants. "I have to take my leave."

With that, he left Annabeth in the dust, jogging fifteen feet away before disappearing.

"Annabeth!"

Said girl turned around to see the Stoll brothers and Tyson, calling her name and running towards her. "Are you okay?" Connor wheezed out, his sword strapped to his belt. He and Travis were dressed the same way; their light brown hair disheveled as if they'd just woken up.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked, stunned.

"We thought something happened to you," Travis explained. "We heard you screaming for help."

"I didn't," Annabeth said. "But never-mind look, the harpies are coming and we've got to go. Now." She added once she spotted the harpies screeching and flying towards them.

"Why?" Tyson asked.

Sighing, Annabeth gave the other three the short version: Hermes came, they talked and he gave her a mission with help to boot. "Can we go now?" She demanded impatiently.

"Dad gave us a quest..." Travis murmured.

"Unbelievable." Connor agreed.

Tyson looked confused but determined as well. "If I can help my friends, then I'm going too!"

"Right," Annabeth muttered, shouldering a one of the yellow bag. "Let's go then."

**CxA**

Annabeth hesitated as she looked at her travelling companions. "Look, this ship gives me bad vibes." She said. "Don't. Eat. Anything. And lock the doors. No pranks unless you want to die." She threatened before leaving and going to the room next to theirs.

Travis had to agree with Annabeth; the ship was giving him bad vibes too. For the first time ever, Travis and Connor didn't play any pranks that night. Tyson tinkered with his project—whatever that is—for a while first before falling asleep.

Travis and Connor curled up on the same—because there were only two—bed and tried to sleep. But of course, that was too much to ask. Travis woke up after his dream of Grover ended.

**CxA**

"No." Annabeth said. "We're going to follow them and possibly, beat Luke up and drag him back to Olympus in chains."

The Stoll brothers gawked at her and numbly followed her and Tyson. Finally, Connor managed to snap out of it. "Are you kidding me? We've got to leave. Now!"

"Yes. Bad smell." Tyson whimpered in agreement.

"Wonderful, we're going to die having you as a quest leader." Travis muttered.

Nevertheless, the loyal friends of Annabeth followed her—though they wanted very badly to run—as she followed the sound of Luke's voice to the stateroom.

They stopped once the door slammed shut, Luke and his companion inside while Annabeth and her companion were trapped outside. Travis' ADHD mind wasn't paying much attention as Tyson imitate whatever the people inside were saying until the door flew open.

Travis yelped in surprise as Luke smiled crookedly down at them. "Well," Luke drawled. "It it isn't my favorite brothers"—his eyes locked with the Stoll brothers—"and my favorite cousin. Come right in."

The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible in Annabeth's opinion.

The beautiful part: Huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food—pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.

The horrible part: On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket. A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths. Despite the sunlight streaming through the windows, the casket made the whole room feel cold. And that wasn't all. Sitting in a golden throne by the sarcophagus, eyes closed as if in a peaceful sleep—in a white Greek dress, the hem ending above the knees, jeans under the dress and combat boots—was a familiar person.

Annabeth gasped in disbelief.

Eyelids fluttered open to reveal golden irises.

**CxA**

* * *

A/N; CXA represents parings: ConnorxAnnabeth. Like it? Hate it?

I hope this chapter's not too rush. Who do you think the 'familiar person' is?

P.S: To those that wanted a sequel to I Love Thee, I already posted it up! And a Merry Christmas to you guys!


	14. XIV

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Fourteen: Together Again.**

* * *

The moment Zeus' master bolt slapped her in the face, an unpleasant tingle of electricity made her spasm, loosing her footage, Percy knew that she was on her way to Tatarus—to join her father. She could feel the evil emanating from below and fear gripped her chest.

No mortal had ever been down there. _Well_, Percy thought, _I'm being the first right?_ She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see her moment of death. _Dad_, she thought, _please help_. _If you ever cared about me at all, help me_. Percy furiously scrubbed her eyes, what was she thinking? Her father that had ate his own children once would never help her—his mortal child that couldn't even hold her own against a daughter of Athena.

Percy cried out in pain when her body made contact with the jagged walls of rocks. She realized that an unnatural wind had blown her there. The space where she can stand was little and she had to press her back against the rocks to avoid loosing her balance and falling into Tatarus.

_Percy_, a voice that sounds just like her mother's echoed in her mind. _What must you say_? Swallowing her disbelief, Percy muttered, "Thank you... dad."

The wind howled and Percy took it as a "Your welcome," from her father even though Kronos was probably thinking along the lines of, "Get lost, you useless brat."

Now, Percy had to figure a way out of Tatarus. She considered climbing up using her hands—she voiced the thought out and the wind slapped her face; maybe her father _was_ watching her after all. She grumbled; how was she going to get out of here? Fly? That wasn't physically possible for—

The sound of something scraping rocks made Percy look up in alarm. It was the bad Ares gave her and conveniently it fell near her so she caught it before it can enter Tatarus. She stared blankly at the bag before rummaging inside for some useful tools—climbing tools maybe but even better, the pearls that Grandma Tethys had given her.

Her fingers met a cold and smooth surface: the surface of a pearl. She carefully extracted the pearl, set it on the ground and crushed it with her feet. She waited patiently for it to work—rare of her to be patient. And when it did, she marveled at the bubble she was encased in.

The bubble popped leaving her in the sea. Now what? Go back to camp? She grimaced in displeasure; right after Annabeth had shoved her into Tatarus? No thanks. In her confusion, Kronos' voice whispered in her mind: _The ship. Board the Princess Andromeda. Join my army._

Percy turned around and there was the ship. She narrowed her eyes, certain that she'd seen wrong. But as she got closer, she recognized the sarcastic smirk, disheveled sandy blonde hair, and icy blue eyes. "Luke." She stated blandly.

The blonde man snorted and signaled to someone with his hand. A second later, a rope ladder was in front of Percy. She gratefully climbed up; as much as she loved water, it was still Poseidon's domain and he might just drown her if he wishes so.

"How long..." Percy started to asked but she ended up sneezing. Her teeth was chattering, she hadn't realize that the night sea was freezing.

"You've been gone?" Luke offered as he draped a towel on her and steered her away. "Time passes differently in mystical places. You've been gone for a week since I made my loyalties clear."

"Your betrayal?" Percy curled up in the golden throne. The stateroom that Luke had led her into; the place where her father's body was reforming. She gently traced the images on the golden coffin—to others, the coffin was freezing cold, but to her, it was warm... like the hearth. "How did you betray them exactly?"

"After you fell—"

"I will pay you back for that distraction earlier." Percy grumbled.

Luke ignored her and continued. "—I told Annabeth—"

"Everything?" Percy suggested. "Even father's plan? Who's side are you on?"

"—where my loyalties lie. And on a completely unrelated note, stop interrupting people when they're doing their best to explain things to _you_." Percy blinked and focused her attention on Luke; the blonde man find it slightly unnerving the way those golden eyes fixate on him. "What's wrong?" He finally asked.

"Nothing." Percy shrugged him off. "The conversation we had earlier... gave me deja vu. That's all."

"Right." To Luke, it didn't matter. He had many other things to do but now, he was tired and wanted to sleep. "Your room is down the hallway, last door on the left."

"Where're you going?" Percy's curious voice halted Luke in his steps.

"To sleep."

Percy jumped out of her seat from the throne and watched as he walked down the same narrow hallway to her room, and stopped at the door opposite to her door room. Grumbling, she walked to her room just as Luke shut the door to his room.

His mightier-than-thou attitude was grating on Percy's nerves. To spite him, she kicked his door before storming into her own room and slamming the door shut. Hard. The door shuddered from the impact but luckily, didn't give away.

She heard Luke's call clearly through the walls and doors: "_Sweet dreams_!" just to annoy her. But it hit too close to home. It sounds too much like what Apollo would've called her. Growling, she buried her head into a pillow and commanded herself to sleep.

**LxP**

Percy spent the rest of the year on board the Princess Andromeda. She watched from the sidelines as Luke recruited more and more monsters and demigods. It disgusted Percy that those demigods would easily loose faith and join someone like Luke but she didn't say anything since they were addition to her father's army.

And speaking of Luke, she couldn't believe her father wanted him as his vessel—or so Kronos had said in her dreams that concerned him. His attitude annoyed her, but it was his looks that made her want to stab him in the eye. He looked so much like Apollo that it hurts; that it made her see Luke in Apollo's place.

Which was a big no-no to her. She distanced herself from everyone in the ship and was practically bragging for someone to infiltrate the ship so she could have some excitement. The wish came true a few weeks later.

The sea responded to her and so she could tell when people are travelling in it. The people that boarded the ship was Annabeth and the Stoll brothers and a Cyclops. What were they doing travelling with a monster?

Their guard was down, Percy could easily defeat them but she let them be. She ordered the monsters and demigods alike to stay away from the place they chose to sleep for the night; and of course, she didn't say anything to Luke about this—she'd also made the monsters shut up about the foreigners.

And now was the result of letting the demigod intruders in: meeting face-to-face with the daughter of Athena. Percy smiled, Luke realized, for the first time she'd boarded the ship. He'd forgotten that she could be quite pleasant when she smiled—her sneers, scowls, smirks and frowns were getting on his nerves; it was a refreshing change.

"Sit," Percy said and waved her hand. Four dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room. None of them sat and Percy sighed in disappointment.

"Where are my manners?" Luke drawled sarcastically. "These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."

Blank stares met Luke's calm steely gaze which made him sighed. "You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story? Their mother ... well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight with one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though ..."

"For lunch." Agrius growled.

"Hehe! Hehe!" His brother Oreius laughed, licking his fur-lined lips. He kept laughing like he was having an asthmatic fit until Luke, Percy and Agrius stared incredulously at him.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Percy growled. "Go punish yourself!"

Oreius whimpered. He trudged over to the corner of the room, slumped onto a stool, and banged his forehead against the dining table, making the silver plates rattle. Agrius looked at his brother in sympathy; Luke acted as if this happened every time Percy and the twin monsters were in the same room.

Annabeth almost smiled. Percy hadn't change a single bit since last year and for that, the daughter of Athena was grateful.

**LxP**

"_Angry? Give up on me? He abandoned me, Annabeth!_ _I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. _He—Percy's father—_grows stronger."_

Luke's voice and words echoed in her mind even as she walked along the open deck. She was too stunned to even notice her surroundings, Connor realized after a minute of observing the daughter of Athena.

He looked at Tyson the same time Travis yelled, "Now, Tyson!" thank the gods the Cyclopes understood. He turned and smacked Oreius thirty feet backward into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.

"Ah!" the kids yelled in unison. "We are not having a blast in the pool!"

Travis and Connor would've laughed at how stupid they sounded if their situation weren't as dire. One wrong move and it will be the last time they see the setting sun. As it was, Percy wasn't stunned for too long, just as she reached for her sword, Travis tackled her; disarming her, catching her in a throat-hold: her arms held behind her by the son of Hermes and his sword by her throat.

Percy struggled but the more she strained, her hands became even more sore. She couldn't believe that the goofy-looking son of Hermes was this strong. Travis was breathing hard but he had a proud grin of accomplishment on his face. He silently sent a thanks to Chiron for forcefully teaching him how to disarm a smaller enemy; back then, Travis thought it was a useless lesson. Now though, he was grateful.

"Go!" Percy snapped. A moment later revealed what she'd meant.

One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but Annabeth knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box, having heard Percy's orders.

"Stop him!" Annabeth yelled, but it was too late. Just before Connor can bang him on the head with a deck chair, he hit the alarm.

Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.

"Lifeboat!" Annabeth yelled.

"A little help here!" Travis called. The other three turned to him; Travis and Percy were on the ground, the male straddling the girl as he tried to bound her hands, but needless to say she was struggling. "Tyson!" The Cyclops easily caught her armand held them together as Travis bound her in a tight knot.

"Let's go!" Connor helped his older brother drag Percy towards the nearest lifeboat. By the time they got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks. A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.

"How do you launch this thing?" screamed Annabeth. Percy snorted and rolled her eyes; she'd long ago stopped struggling once she realized doing so would tighten the rope on her neck and therefore, suffocating her.

A hellhound leaped at Travis, but Tyson slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher. "Get in!" he yelled. Connor drew his sword and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air.

"Any second we would be overwhelmed." Travis muttered, kneeling by Percy's side and tring to free the lifeboat. The daughter of Kronos lazily looked at him.

"Didn't camp taught you anything?" She drawled tauntingly.

"I wasn't paying attention back then!" Travis' cheeks were flushed with embarrassment as he admitted that. The girl's laughter didn't help his flaming cheeks from cooling down anyhow.

The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Annabeth, Travis and Tyson were having no luck with the release pulley. Connor jumped in beside them.

"Hold on!" he yelled, and he cut the ropes.

A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as they free-fell toward the ocean.

"Percy!" At the call of her name, the girl looked up... to see Luke.

**PxL**

Percy's answer was drowned out by the sound of rushing wind, tons of cursing and the sounds of water rushing.

Luke could only watch as the lifeboat they were boarding vanished into the distance.

_Wonderful_, he thought. _Lord Kronos is going to murder me._ The Titan Lord wouldn't be pleased to know that his daughter was kidnapped.

**PxL**

* * *

A/N; What kind of relationship Kronos and Percy should have? Close or distant?

Review and answer!


	15. XV

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Fifteen: Rushed Beats.**

* * *

An awkward and tense silence hung above their heads as they all looked at the daughter of Kronos Percy smiled, for whatever reason Travis didn't know but he thought she looked pretty when she did.

"So... are you going to untie me anytime soon?" Percy drawled lazily, looking perfectly comfortable despite being the one captive. She acted as if the others on the boat were her servants.

"Why should we?" Annabeth challenged. But Travis caught a flicker of emotion in her steely grey eyes.

Percy rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I wouldn't do anything to harm you all." No one believe what she said; and their faces must've said it because Percy sighed loudly. "Fine. I swear on the River Styx to not betray you in any way. Can you untie me now?"

The Stoll brothers looked at Annabeth. The daughter of Athena frowned, seeming to be battling her inner self over a choice. Finally, she nodded and Travis cut through Percy's bonds. Grumbling and swearing a lot, Percy rubbed her sore wrists and throat.

"What are you all doing out of camp anyway?" Percy asked. Not quite actually, demanded haughtily.

Connor glared, rather venomously for a child of Hermes, at Percy. "You mean you didn't know?"

"I did. But Clarisse was suppose to be on the quest right? Not you. So why?"

Travis grumbled childishly "It's that new activities director—Chiron got fired mind you—that chose her even though we came up with the quest—"

"You're so goofy, of course no one would want you on such a dangerous quest." Percy scoffed, rolling her eyes;

"—can you believe that?"

"Yes."

"And I'm not done yet—"

"Since when you ever could finish something?"

Annabeth tried not to laugh as Percy continued to make fun of Travis. She turned to Connor, smile still intact, "I think we should contact Chiron and consult him."

Connor felt his heart flutter slightly. "Y—yeah." He mumbled.

When their hands brushed, his heart started beating wildly for reasons he couldn't comprehend.

**CxA**

Percy watched as Tyson ran off into the distance before she turned back to Travis. "Sugar donuts? Really, Tray?"

Travis wrinkle his nose in displeasure. "Stop calling me that." He whined. "I have a name you know?"

"Yeah, I do." A smile that contains no warmth or sympathy at all. "It's Travis Stoll."

Is it odd for Travis' heart to start hammering in his chest? Why was his heart rushing in it's beats? Was the question that kept plaguing Travis' mind. Like the idiot he was, Travis turned to the daughter of Athena for help—child of wisdom, she must know right?

"Hey, Annie—" He didn't miss the dark look his younger brother shot him; he filed that tiny bit of information into the corner of his mind, he'll ask his brother what's wrong later. Hey, he might be goofy, but that didn't mean he didn't care for his brother.

"Don't call me that," Annabeth snapped. "What do you want?"

"Why do my heart—"

"No—sudden—moves," Annabeth said, interrupting Travis, like her life depended on it. "Very slowly, turn around."

Then he heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves.

All of them turned and saw a rhino-size thing moving through the shadows of the trees. It was hissing, its front half writhing in all different directions. Travis couldn't understand what he was seeing at first. Then he realized the thing had multiple necks—at least seven, each topped with a hissing reptilian head. Its skin was leathery, and under each neck it wore a plastic bib that read: I'm A MONSTER DONUTS' KID!

Travis went to draw his sword but Percy placed her hand on his to stop him from doing so. Even in their dire situation, his heart couldn't help but go crazy.

The Hydra was only a few feet away. It seemed to be sniffing the ground and the trees like it was hunting for something. Then Percy noticed that two of the heads were rip ping apart a piece of yellow canvas—one of the campers' duffel bags. The thing had already been to their campsite. It was following their scent. Her heart pounded—part of her admitted that it was because of another entirely different reason than the Hydra. She'd seen a stuffed Hydra-head trophy at camp before, but that did nothing to prepare her for the real thing. Each head was diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake's, but the mouths were lined with jagged rows of shark-like teeth.

Tyson was trembling. He stepped back and accidentally snapped a twig. Immediately, all seven heads turned toward the group and hissed. The Hydra's head wasn't the only thing that looked at him; Percy was glaring daggers at him—she refused to die because of him!

"Scatter!" Annabeth yelled. She and Connor dove to the right.

Travis and Percy rolled to the left. One of the Hydra heads spat an arc of green liquid that would've claimed Travis' life—because he wasn't fast enough—if Percy hadn't slowed the green liquid's time so that it went past his shoulder and splashed against an elm. The trunk smoked and began to disintegrate. The whole tree toppled straight toward Tyson, who still hadn't moved, petrified by the monster that was now right in front of him.

"Tyson!" Travis tackled him with all his might, knocking him aside just as the Hydra lunged and the tree crashed on top of two of its heads. The Hydra stumbled backward, yanking its heads free then wailing in outrage at the fallen tree. All seven heads shot acid, and the elm melted into a steaming pool of muck.

"Move!" Percy snapped at Tyson and Travis. She ran to one side and uncapped Riptide, hoping to draw the monster's attention from Travis. It worked. Unfortunately.

The sight of celestial bronze is hateful to most monsters. As soon as her glowing blade appeared, the Hydra whipped toward it with all its heads, hissing and baring its teeth. The good news: Tyson and Travis was momentarily out of danger. The bad news: Percy was about to be melted into a puddle of goo.

One of the heads snapped at her experimentally. Without thinking, Connor who had also drew his sword, swung his sword at the monster.

"No!" Annabeth yelled.

"Listen to your girlfriend!" Percy snapped heatedly.

Too late. He'd sliced the Hydra's head clean off. It rolled away into the grass, leaving a flailing stump, which immediately stopped bleeding and began to swell like a balloon. In a matter of seconds the wounded neck split into two necks, each of which grew a full-size head. Now the group was looking at an eight-headed Hydra.

Percy spit curses—of various languages such as: Greek, Latin, French, English etc—at Connor before diving out of the way before the green acid could disintegrate her. "You have an idiot for a brother, Travis—it's all your fault!" Percy somehow found a reason to blame Travis.

"Me?" Travis' jaw dropped. "What did I do?"

"Connor!" Annabeth scolded. "You just opened another Monster Donut shop somewhere!"

Connor dodged a spray of acid. "I'm about to die and you're worried about that? How do we kill it?"

"Fire!" Annabeth said. "We have to have fire!"

As soon as she said that, Percy remembered the story. The Hydra's heads would only stop multiplying if they burned the stumps before they regrew. That's what Heracles had done, anyway. But they had no fire. "I'm the daughter of time, legacy of water deities. I have no fire." She muttered.

She backed up toward river. The Hydra followed.

Annabeth and Connor moved in on the left and tried to distract one of the heads, parrying its teeth with her knife, but another head swung sideways like a club and knocked them both into the muck. Travis was having trouble with the heads on it's right.

"No hitting my friends!" Tyson charged in, putting himself between the Hydra and the two campers. As Annabeth got to her feet, Tyson started smashing at the monster heads with his fists so fast it reminded Connor of the whack-a-mole game at the arcade.

But even Tyson couldn't fend off the Hydra forever.

He five kept inching backward, dodging acid splashes and deflecting snapping heads without cutting them off, but they all knew they were only postponing their deaths—even though they had _time's_ daughter on their team. Eventually, they would make a mistake and the thing would kill us.

Then Travis heard a strange sound—a chug-chug-chug that at first he thought was his heartbeat, for he was now holding onto Percy's hand out of terror. It was so powerful it made the riverbank shake. "What's that noise?" Annabeth shouted, keeping her eyes on the Hydra.

"Steam engine," Tyson answered, seeming perfectly sure of herself.

"How did someone like you know that?" Percy asked. Her tone made it clear she thought Tyson wasn't capable of anything.

"What?" Connor ducked as the Hydra spat acid over his head.

Then from the river behind us, a familiar female voice shouted: "There! Prepare the thirty-two-pounder!"

They didn't dare look away from the Hydra, but if that was who Connor thought it was behind them, he figured they now had enemies on two fronts.

A gravelly male voice said, "They're too close, m'lady!"

"Damn the heroes!" the girl yelled.

"Full steam ahead!"

"Aye, m'lady."

"Fire at will, Captain!"

Annabeth and Percy understood what was happening a split second before the boys did. They yelled in unison, "Hit the dirt!" and they dove for the ground as an earth-shattering BOOM echoed from the river. There was a flash of light, a column of smoke, and the Hydra exploded right in front of them, showering Annabeth, Tyson and Connor with nasty green slime that vaporized as soon as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.

Travis was fortunate because he dropped near Percy, who had stopped time again on that particular shower of liquid that nearly fell on them. The two had then crawled away and time resumed. She cackled at her other comrades that were now covered in slime.

"Gross!" screamed Annabeth.

"Steamship!" yelled Tyson, not caring of the nasty liquid on him, unlike Connor and Annabeth who were both whining.

Travis stood a moment later than Percy did, coughing from the cloud of gunpowder smoke that was rolling across the banks. Percy merely warded off the steam that floated to her with a snap of her fingers; she'd gotten better controlling her powers, thanks to her father. She stood and watched as the other half-bloods coughed and hacked.

Talk about cruel and useless, Travis thought as he glared, with watery-eyes at Percy. She smirked rather prettily at his direction.

Chugging toward the group of five down the river was the strangest ship they'd ever seen. It rode low in the water like a submarine, its deck plated with iron. In the middle was a trapezoid-shaped casemate with slats on each side for cannons.

A flag waved from the top—a wild boar and spear on a bloodred field. Lining the deck were zombies in gray uniforms— dead soldiers with shimmering faces that only partially covered their skulls, like the ghouls Percy'd seen in the Underworld guarding Hades's palace. The ship was an ironclad. A Civil War battle cruiser. They all could just make out the name along the prow in moss-covered letters: CSS Birmingham.

And standing next to the smoking cannon that had almost killed us, wearing full Greek battle armor, was Clarisse. "Losers," she sneered. "But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard."

**PxT**

* * *

A/N; 'Tis a rather talky chapter, no? DO you prefer an action-packed chap or full of conversations?

P.S: If I write a Jason/Thalia fic, what do you think? Would you read it? (It won't be incest, I'll have my way.) Or do you want a Fem!Percy/Leo fic?


	16. XVI

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Sixteen: The Feeling Of A Sinking Heart.**

* * *

Percy was not impressed by the blatant glare sent her way. Clarisse stared at her as if she'd come from the daughter of Ares' very own nightmare—though if she really did, Percy was proud to have that effect on the older girl. "What?" She demanded, crossing her arms and returning Clarisse's stare with a glare. "Is there something on my face, perhaps?"

"Percy? Really? I thought you were rotting in Tatarus..."

Percy rolled her eyes. "I won't go down that easily. Anyway..." Her eyes scanned the ship. "...this ship is rather nice. Though I doubt even the Hephaestus cabin can build this overnight—if even your cabinmates aren't willing to help you, why would the other cabins?"

"How did you know that?" Clarisse spat, eyes narrowing at the shorter girl. Percy's statement instantly drew the others' attention.

"Really?" Connor laughed.

Travis shook his head and said, "Poor you." Mockingly smiling sympathetically at her—the daughter of Kronos was rubbing off on him.

"Shut up!" Clarisse roared. Then she turned her attention back to Percy. "If you want to know so badly, I'll tell you—this ship was given to me by my father. And the ghosts owed Ares a tribute so they must serve him for battling in the losing side of war."

"Oh, I see." Percy muttered, eyes faraway. "Did it feel good? When your father helped you?"

"Why do you care?" the daughter of Ares asked suspiciously.

Percy smiled thinly. "I don't suppose you beg him for his help? Oh, how I pity you—all I need to do is ask and my father will help."

Annabeth couldn't believe what she'd heard. "If he kept helping you, he'll be breaking the Ancient Laws—"

"He'd did so many things wrong," Percy countered. "Do you think breaking rules will change his horrible record?" She rolled her eyes then turned and left, grabbing Travis by the sleeve and walking off.

"She likes him, she definitely likes him." Connor muttered as Travis' and Percy's voice faded with distance. Clarisse had offered them a tour of the ship—not out of kindness but to brag about the ship's quality—which they didn't want so they'd know their way around in the ship. Though since Travis and Percy were flirting—in his eyes—with one another so much, he doubt they'd even properly see where they were being led to.

Annabeth snorted softly. "I thought she liked someone else."

This piqued Connor's interest immensely. "Really? Who?"

The daughter of Athena smiled cheekily. "I don't think she'll be very happy if I decide to blab about her secrets."

Connor pouted. "Aww—for old times' sake?" He whined.

Annabeth thought he looked cute. And blushed when she realized what she'd just thought of the older boy. "I recall in old times, we almost died a lot."

A few feet away, Clarisse rolled her eyes. "You're all flirting with one another."

**PxT**

"Are you _crazy_?!"

Travis noted that Percy's gall was another thing he liked about her. As impulsive as he was, even he didn't have the gall to call a daughter of the war god crazy. "I agree with her." He muttered. He was starting to agree on a lot of things with Percy wasn't he?

"Clarisse—" Percy tried again, clearly not willing to give up just yet.

"We need a backup plan," Annabeth interrupted, she knew a lost battle when she saw one—Clarisse was just too damn stubborn."This isn't going to work."

"Annabeth is right," Tyson said. "Engine's no good."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Pressure. Pistons need fixing."

"Oh, wonderful!" Connor exclaimed sarcastically.

Before he could explain, the cosmic toilet flushed with a mighty roar, the ship lurched forward and they were thrown to the deck. Percy would've hit her head hard if Travis hadn't cushioned her fall. They were in the whirlpool. And true to Percy's predictions, things went haywire from there. The boiler room's overheated, so Tyson was sent to fix it. Which didn't bode well with Percy; she didn't trust the monster no matter how much Annabeth and Travis reassure her to.

Charybdis was an orthodontist's nightmare—or goldmine. She was nothing but a huge black maw with bad teeth alignment and a serious overbite, and she'd done nothing for centuries but eat without brushing after meals.

"Fire!" Clarisse screamed the order.

Three rounds were blasted into the monster's maw. One blew off the edge of an incisor. Another disappeared into her gullet. The third hit one of Charybdis's retaining bands and shot back at us, snapping the Ares flag off its pole.

"Again!" Clarisse ordered. The gunners reloaded, but she had to know it was hopeless. They would have to pound the monster a hundred more times to do any real damage, and they didn't have that long. They were being sucked in too fast.

"Stop time, Percy!" Clarisse turned to the daughter of Kronos. "Do it now!"

"Who do you think you are?" Percy demanded, pissed.

Then the vibrations in the deck changed before Clarisse can scream how incompetent Percy is. The hum of the engine got stronger and steadier. The ship shuddered and they started pulling away from the mouth.

"Tyson did it!" Annabeth said.

"Wait!" Clarisse said. "We need to stay close!"

"We'll die!" Travis said. "We _have_ to move away."

Percy gripped the rail as the ship fought against the suction. The broken Ares flag raced past them and lodged in Charybdis's braces. They weren't making much progress, but at least they were holding their own. Tyson had somehow given them just enough juice to keep the ship from being sucked in.

Suddenly, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Water washed over Charybdis.

Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting every thing inedible, including the ship's cannonballs, one of which slammed into the side of the CSS Birmingham with a ding like the bell on a carnival game. Percy cursed in Ancient Greek.

"Talk about Karma," Connor muttered.

were thrown backward on a wave that must've been forty feet high. I used all of my willpower to keep the ship from capsizing, but we were still spinning out of control, hurtling toward the cliffs on the opposite side of the strait.

Another smoldering sailor burst out of the hold. He stumbled into Clarisse, almost knocking them both over board. "The engine is about to blow!"

"Where's Tyson?" Travis demanded.

"Does it matter?" Percy snapped.

"It does to me!"

"Still down there," the sailor said. "Holding it together somehow, though I don't know for how much longer."

Percy's eyes glowed golden, "We have to abandon ship." She said.

"No!" Clarisse yelled.

"We have no choice, m'lady. The hull is already cracking apart! She can't—"

He never finished his sentence. Quick as lightning, something brown and green shot from the sky, snatched up the captain, and lifted him away. All that was left were his leather boots.

"Scylla!" a sailor yelled, as another column of reptilian flesh shot from the cliffs and snapped him up. It happened so fast it was like watching a laser beam rather than a monster.

Percy drew her sword and tried to get a hit on the monster but to no avail—it was too fast for even her. She looked around her, scanning for an escape route— below deck's on fire, they can't hide there. "Get the lifeboats!" She yelled.

The others didn't need anymore urging. Clarisse and a few of her undead sailors uncovered one of the two emergency rowboats while Scylla's heads rained from the sky like a meteor shower with teeth, picking off Confederate sailors one after another. Percy winced in pity; she wasn't as heartless as they'd made her out to be—her father was the Titan of Justice after all, as ironic as it was.

Percy made her way to Travis, eyes narrowed at the son of Hermes. "What are you doing?!" She yelled over the noise.

"Get the other boat." Travis threw Percy a bag of... is that a thermos? Percy stared at the item in her hand, bemused. "I'll get Tyson."

"You can't!" she said. "The heat will kill you!"

The idiot didn't listen. Scowling, Percy ran for the boiler room hatch, after Travis, when suddenly her feet weren't touching the deck anymore. She was flying straight up, the wind whistling in her ears, the side of the cliff only inches from her face.

Scylla had somehow caught her by the knapsack, and was lifting the daughter of Kronos up toward her lair. Without thinking, Percy swung her sword behind her and managed to jab the thing in her beady yellow eye. She grunted and dropped the demigoddess.

The fall would've been bad enough, considering she was a hundred feet in the air. But as she fell, the CSS Birmingham exploded below her.

_KAROOM!_

The engine room blew, sending chunks of ironclad flying in either direction like a fiery set of wings.

"_Travis_!" Percy screamed; fear and panic grasping her heart.

The lifeboats had managed to get away from the ship, but not very far. Flaming wreckage was raining down. Clarisse, Connor and Annabeth would either be smashed or burned or pulled to the bottom by the force of the sinking hull, and that was thinking optimistically, assuming they got away from Scylla.

Then Percy heard a different kind of explosion—the sound of Hermes's magic thermos being opened a little too far. As if things could get any worse.

White sheets of wind blasted in every direction, scattering the lifeboats, lifting her out of my free fall and propelling her across the ocean.

Percy couldn't see anything. She spun in the air, got clonked on the head by something hard, and hit the water with a crash that would've broken every bone in her body if I hadn't been the legacy of Tethys and Poseidon—the latter's connection to her was something Kronos told her.

The last thing Percy remembered was sinking in a burning sea, knowing that Travis was gone forever, and wishing she were able to drown.

'_So this is what it's like.. the feeling of a sinking heart...'_

**PxT**

* * *

A/N; Tell me what you think. And your answers to your reviews... (As always, there's going to me more author's note below the answers.)

AbigailPaine; Fem!Percy/Leo – for this story?

Tally Jennifer Youngblood; So the idea's out then.

Artemis Persephone Jackson; I wrote that they won't be related last time, but nevermind.

A fan of Many S; Why didn't you log in? And thanks for pointing the mistakes out, i'll get to it as soon as I can.

Eurwen de Vrill; Thanks, so you want more humor?

The Werewolf Assassin; Maybe. Why do you ship the pairing so much?

Pop55557; If they aren't related, how will they have the same last name? So many guys paired with Percy is because I wanted to explore the dynamics. How things would've been if she ended up with this guy and the other. I wanted to see the difference.

Yuri-Hime-Chan; Umm, I don't understand.

Coolo123; Any idea on how the plot should go?

Nmw18805; We'll see. I'm quite busy since school restarted.

Onlyafraidoffear; You're right! Thanks for telling me!

BookLover 2401; I did. But my updates will be kinda slow now.

Child of Kronos; I'll try to make it as talky as possible.

Awesomewatergod; I did.

shadow; Maybe around later this year.

ANIME x MANGA - ME; Thanks. And I'm planning on close.

Vampirecutie447; Right. A lot of people want it so maybe.

GoddessOfSweetness-Me; Thanks for the compliment. Keep reviewing!

Guest; Dunno. I thought it was for both. Nevermind, I'm planning on pairing her with either Apollo or Jason.

x; Okay. I think I'll do that. But I want to write the heroes of olympus series... so how?

Phabas; I got work to do so updates won't be as fast. Once in two weeks maybe?

-0-

So do you want me to continue to the Heroes of Olympus series? Who do you want Percy to end up with?


	17. XVII

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Seventeen: The Harrowing Escape.**

* * *

Percy groaned as she came to; her eyelids fluttered open just to snap shut again as the sun glared into them. _What's wrong with Apollo today?_—the sun was truly brighter than usual and it wasn't something she actually liked, no matter how much she liked Apollo.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her eyes still squinted shut. She curled into a ball on herself, waiting for one of her companions on this quest to answer her.

When it was silent for far too long; where no one answered her, she finally opened her eyes, shielding her sensitive golden orbs from the sun with her hand. For the first time, she realized that the surface below her was sandy—she was on an island. Stranded, alone, with no one to help her, she realized.

Percy opened her mouth to call their names—surely they couldn't have gone that far... she doubted they would leave her as well; if they kidnapped her to just threw her somewhere, why bother at all?—when she realized that her throat was dry as hell.

She crawled towards the ocean and with great reluctance, cupped the salty water to drink. Her mother would've killed her with a lecture for doing such an unhygienic thing, but she had no other choice. And unlike other mortals, the water wouldn't be as poisonous to her as it would to others.

Her eyes, having adjusted to the glaring light, studied the place. It was also then that she noticed the pieces of wood. The lifeboat from the ship Clarisse was commanding. If she was on it, then that meant that the others did save her, but they'd been blown apart. The waves can be quite wild without a child of any sea god or titan to control it.

She started at a slow pace, wanting to conserve her energy to find land. It didn't take long for her to start sweating like crazy—what had crawled up Apollo's ass and died?—but she endured it. The indication that there were other people on the island was the screaming.

Snapping her fingers to travel through time, she appeared right behind a tree. A good hiding spot, she thought as she peeked out of the tree to see what was happening. What she saw made her blood boil. There were downsides to being the daughter of the Titan of Justice—though said Titan wasn't all that big about justice—and now was one of the time. She couldn't walk away when people needed her; and men whipping girls was certainly an emergency.

She stepped out of her hiding spot and yelled for their attention. "Hey! Let them go!" the brunette waved her fist threateningly. "Or you'll be drowning in the ocean before you know it!"

Much to her disgust, they only laughed and jeered at her, obviously underestimating her. Seeing nothing else she can do, she charged, drawing Hora, her scythe that her father had given her. In Mist Form, it appeared as an amber ring but out of that form... it was deadly - it's property is eerily similar to her father's: a weapon that can suck out one's life-force with just a cut. And it was as velvet black as his, but hers were made of Stygian Iron. She may want to deal justice but she wasn't a murderer. She swung the scythe, drawing a wide circle, separating the men from the women.

She half turned to the stunned women, "Get out of here!"

They didn't need anymore urging; they immediately turned and fled. But one girl lingered, she looked uncertainly at Percy. "Um—"

"Come on, Reyna!" An older girl that seemed to be the older version of the Reyna girl—Reyna's older sister—grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her away.

"But Hylla! She can't fight them all alone—" Reyna protested. Percy felt grateful for her concern but she also was insulted, did she look that weak?

"Not our problem!" Hylla, the older girl insisted but Percy can hear the guilt in her voice as they faded into the distance.

Percy turned her full, undivided attention on her opponents and sneered, "I hope you've prayed to your chosen god because I'm so going to gut you all like a—"

Another shrill scream interrupted Percy. But this wasn't just any scream; it was Annabeth's. Percy lowered her scythe slightly, but her guard wasn't any lower. Something must've happened, she have to reach her blonde friend. She had no choice but to run there.

Jumping into the air, she stomped viciously on the faces of a few man before landing gracefully on the soft sand again. She ran toward where Annabeth's voice came from, calling the daughter of Athena's name—"Annabeth!"

"Percy!"

Percy burst through the thick foliage of the forest to see Annabeth and Connor boarding a ship; the daughter of Athena was waving at her. A look of warning in her eyes and she kept pointing to Percy's right. So naturally, the daughter of Kronos turned to see what was wrong.

"There's more? Damn it!" She swore as she spotted more of the men that had terrorized the women. They will never be able to escape with so many of them.

"I can't do it! This'll take hours and we just don't have the time!"

Connor's voice rose above the sounds of yelling, delivering only bad news.

And what he said was true, Percy realized, he'd said something sensible for once. Getting the ship ready for sailing would take hours and the pirates were already closing in on them. _Use your powers only when you need them the most_—Kronos' voice resounded in her mind, through the pounding of blood in her ears.

She held out her hand and a not-so-opaque, old fashioned clock face appeared before her. "Stop!" she barked. Immediately, the clock hands stopped moving; the pirates were halted in action. The effort to stop time for so many of them nearly sent Percy staggering to the ground but she managed to reach the ship.

Just in time too as the time spell on the pirates broke with Percy's concentration once she realized that Travis really didn't make it out before the ghost ship went _KABOOM! _

"Percy—something!"

Annabeth's voice snapped Percy out of it. Swallowing with an effort, she closed her eyes and with a snap of her fingers, the ropes went flying on their own, the sails set themselves and all Percy needed to do was concentrate. Within seconds, the ship was off, going at ten knots. Something which wasn't doing the son of Hermes any favors.

Annabeth enjoyed the breeze as the ship slowly slow down; Percy's time spell on the ship slowly fading. Smiling sadly, she turned to Percy only to find the daughter of Kronos curled up into a ball, fast alseep, snoring softly. She turned to look at Connor only to find him doing the same thing; she blinked in alarm—_if they're both asleep... then who's driving the ship_?

The daughter of Athena whirled around. "You..." she breathed, breathless.

**CxA**

* * *

A/N; Short, I know. So who do you want the person driving the ship to be? Travis? Or Reyna & Hylla? And don't ask how first, I have things planned out for both.

TwilightNewMoonEclipseMidnig ht: Yeah. He's paired with Percy

AbigailPaine: What does that mean?

Lord Jace: She's going to be on Kronos' side, no worries. And Apollo's definitely Percy's guy.

girlygrl25: Thanks! And I'm sure the end will be to your liking.

Dark-Angel-Princess 01; I did, didn't I?

Black Wolf 101: That is quite hard to answer. Percy's neutral I guess.

Yuri-Hime-Chan; Really? I didn't notice. Thanks for pointing them out. I'll go correct them when I have the time; I'll avoid making the same mistakes.

coolo123; I already have a page on for the story. All the info's on the website.

guest; It's already happening. The other guys are merely distractions by Aphrodite.

Onlyafraidoffear; Okay.

Tally Jennifer Youngblood: Why did you think it was fitting? What would prompt Percy to say something like that?

angelxofxmine: What about Nico?

kingawesome; Yes, a Jason/Percy would be kinda interesting - it'd drive both their fathers mad. I don't think I'll make a Frank/Percy pairing in this story. But Percy_ is_ a goddess, but somehow, she's involved.

BookLover2401; I did. But Octavian's already a legacy of Apollo. A brief pairing between the two... maybe.

PandaFanForLife535; This chap, I tried to add more detail than the last chap. What do you think? Annabeth sees Percy as her best friend - after so many life-and-death situations where Percy saved her, duh! They kidnapped her out of convenient's sake - she was just along for the ride, Travis disarmed so she wouldn't fight back. They just string her along on their quest.

Child of Kronos; Okay. It's permanent.

500519cait ; Yes, she'd end up with him in the end.

noname; I do too.

P.S Vote in my profile as to who should join Percy & co, the one manning the ship. Hylla and Reyna or Travis?


	18. XVIII

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Eighteen: You, Me And The World's Flawed.**

* * *

Annabeth had to refrain from screaming once she saw who it was. Behind the wheel, the son of Hermes smirked and abandoned his post, walking at a leisure pace towards Percy's unconscious form. Luke Castellan glowered down at the daughter of Kronos.

Viciously, he kicked her in the ribs.

"What are you doing to her?" Annabeth shrieked, instinctively drawing her knife, ready to defend her friends.

Luke scowled, shooting another dark glare as Percy curled up even tighter a ball by his feet. "Lord Kronos is upset that his daughter is gone. So he sent me to find her." he said. "And I'll be skewered by my lord soon if I don't bring her back—" he cut himself off as his eyes widened.

At first, the daughter of Athena thought he was bluffing to get her guard down, but then she heard it. The faint sound of singing. "Sirens," she squeaked in terror.

"Wonderful," Luke spat sarcastically, gathering Percy in his arms with surprising gentleness, seeing as he'd just kicked her quite hard in the ribs. "Sirens luring us into death traps are the last thing we need."

"Since when there's a 'we' here?"

"Since Percy chose to help you brats—now move it!" Luke snapped, jerking his head at the still unconscious Connor. "We need to put wax in their ears and ours too, else we die."

It didn't take long for them to put wax in their ears as the distance between the ship and the singing sirens closed. Luke sat by Percy's bed; the girl was slowly stirring but not entirely awake. Connor was snoring loudly, with slight drool out of his mouth even though they had their ears' wax on, they can practically hear his loud snores.

A tense awkward silence descended on them. The daughter of Athena fidgeted slightly, what do you say to someone who was once your big-brother-figure-turned-enemy? But that was mostly out of the way when Percy's body jerked violently, the already loose wax falling from her ear.

Luke scrambled to fit the wax in the girl's ears again.

Annabeth decided to do the same to Connor—better safe than sorry—when she turned to find no one occupying the bed and small balls of wax on the rustled bed-sheets.

She screamed.

The daughter of Kronos probably groaned as her eyes fluttered open. Her golden eyes widened the moment they landed on Luke but the other son of Hermes shushed her and made gestures to him and Annabeth. Not something that the blond girl cared at the moment because Connor. Was. Gone.

She turned and bolted after his trail. Though dazed—Percy had just woke up after all—and reluctant—Luke wasn't that willing to help his enemy though they're currently on neutral grounds—the other two ran after the daughter of Athena, calling her name though they couldn't hear her response.

The deck was empty, which means that Annabeth and Connor were underwater. Percy turned to Luke and made the hand signs for 'Stay' and 'Peace'. Meaning: stay here, don't run and that he and the campers were at peace. For now.

Then she turned and jump into the water. Luke sighed loudly, and shuffled to the edge of theship, leaning over to see Percy's brown hair disappearing into the dark waters. His curiosity got the better of him and he decided that hearing the song for a little while wouldn't hurt.

He loosened the wax in his ear.

**CxA**

Annabeth was lucky she was a strong swimmer. But seeing as Athena and Poseidon were rivals, she mostly did her best to stay away from water. But seeing as her paternal half-siblings wanted to learn how to swim, Annabeth was forced to go as well to take care of them during their lessons. And since learning is one of the things she loved to do the most, she ended up learning how to swim.

The currents fought to push her back but she resisted. She had to get to the son of Hermes. Out of the blue, a wave caught her and sent her sweeping between two razor sharp rocks. She managed to get out of the way before it managed to hurt her.

Her steely grey eyes determined, she plunged after Connor's retreating form.

Deeper and deeper into the ocean.

**LxP**

Percy broke up to the surface again, surveying below the surface before spotting Annabeth's mop of blonde hair. At least, that was what she'd assumed in the first place as she dived after the blonde. When she got closer and saw who it really was, she nearly spat fire in the water.

Are sons of Hermes that crazy?—she thought angrily as she caught Luke's arm. She tugged on his arm but the son of Hermes just shrugged her off and continued swimming. She was about to knock him out when she realized that he could lead her to the sirens and she could kill them, breaking her friends out of their trance.

Summoning the bubbles around her, she made a huge bubble of air surround them. This way, Luke wouldn't die of asphyxiation. Percy nodded, satisfied with what she'd done. It didn't take long for them to reach the sirens, which surprised the daughter of Kronos, but she didn't complain.

She caught sight of Annabeth and Connor, struggling the same time she noticed the sirens—how ugly they looked—and how Luke was about to be siren-chow. She wrapped her arms around Luke and nodded at Annabeth who caught her eye.

Together, they plummeted down deeper into the seas.

Bubbles gathered around Annabeth and Connor, allowing them to breathe underwater too. It didn't take long for the spell of the sirens to break; it wasn't hard to tell either since the sons of Hermes stopped punching and kicking.

Their state of mind weren't that perfect either: Luke was breathing hard, clutching onto Percy like she was his lifeline and seemed to be holding back tears. Percy turned her head and saw Connor sobbing like a five-year-old with Annabeth hugging him to comfort him.

Fish gathered to look at the four demigods—a school of barracudas, some curious marlins.

Percy glowered at them. "Scram!" she snarled. Being the legacy of Poseidon, she could, on some level, communicate with them. It was rather unnecessary to be able to talk to fish,a knowledge she didn't want to know.

They swam off, but Percy could tell they went reluctantly. She swore she understood their intentions. They were about to start rumors flying around the sea about the daughter of Kronos and some boy at the bottom of Siren Bay, along with another couple.

Percy willed the waves to bring them up to the ship.

Connor and Luke needed therapy, judging by Connor's unshakable sobs and Luke's trembling. She'd always thought of the older son of Hermes as a strong, unmovable person. But now, he looked just like a little kid and Percy couldn't help but pity him.

_You, me and the world's flawed_, she thought, _even Luke can be taken down from his mighty pedestal, just like her father was once hurled off his throne_, unconsciously tightening her arms around him.

**LxP**

* * *

A/N; I changes my mind about the pairings. Apollo/Percy will end by the end of this story. Continuing with Luke/Percy. Or do you want me to make alternate endings? The sequel will be Luke/Percy and past Apollo/Percy.

Review!


	19. XIX

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Nineteen: A Heart For Thought.**

* * *

No words could describe how enraged—and some other foreign feeling that he didn't want to acknowledge but knew about—Kronos felt at the moment. He started pacing up and down the throne room; a fake image he'd gotten used to in his daughter's more-than-familiar mindscape Yes, he had inhabited his daughter's mind—some of his essence anyway.

Morpheus, the god of dreams refrained from rolling his eyes at his new lord. If he was so worried about his daughter, why couldn't he just talk to her—the same time, revealing to her that he was in her brain and might just take over it if necessary through their mind link? And what was he? A decor to Kronos' dramatic up and down pacing perhaps? He was getting bored, five minutes after reporting what had nearly happened to his daughter—Percy had nearly been eaten by the Sirens, thanks to a certain son of Hermes; Luke was so getting it from Kronos—and no response from Kronos.

Naturally, he wasn't foolish enough to point that Kronos was an idiot for not using a direct approach.

But eventually, he had to say something or he wouldn't be able to leave. Kronos would murder him if he left without permission.

He cleared his throat, "Lord Kronos?" he dared to venture and immediately wished he hadn't.

Scowling, Kronos stopped pacing and turned to him. "What?" the Titan Lord snappishly asked. Morphesu wondered whether or not did Kronos know that he looked like shit. His daughter's mindscape was certainly interesting, what the person inhabiting this mythical world felt was clearly reflected on their face no matter how much good are they at hiding in the real world.

Like Kronos was. It was easy to tell he was worried—however little or much it was. His golden eyes were duller due to anger and the slightest bit of worry. Or maybe there was quite an amount of worry but he was hiding it behind his rage. His eyes had black rings, as if he'd lost sleep in worry. He looked older than this usual form, which was usually somewhere around a man in his thirties.

Morpheus should really watch his mouth but his curiosity got the better of him. "Are you worried about your daughter, sir? I can send one of my children to—"

Even before he'd finished the sentence, Kronos' eyes was already flaring with even more anger. He practically snarled at Morpheus. "I _don't _care about Persephone!" he spat, storming towards Morpheus which had the god backing up rapidly. "I just want her to be safe—"

Then he stopped himself, realizing what he'd said didn't make sense. If you don't care about someone, you wouldn't want them to be safe. Kronos seemed to realize this the same moment he did for the evidence that he knew was there.

Realization dawning, eyes widening in apprehension. Kronos took a step back and spat, "Leave."

Morpheus didn't need anymore urging.

Once the god of dreams left, Kronos sunk into his throne, on the opposite of his daughter's throne. It would be hers soon. Once they won the war, she'll be sitting there. And things will be back to normal.

He rubbed his face, mind furiously working on his and Percy's relationship. Theirs were anything but normal or loving father-daughter relationship. She was too much like him for him to love her dearly. But on some level, he supposed he did care for her.

And... and maybe he did love her. Like he did his oldest child, Hestia once. And maybe even Hades though he consumed the god the underworld just a year after he was born. Speaking of his oldest children, Percy was like a combination of Hestia and Hades.

She had the same thoughtful, clever insight as Hestia; the same brooding, lonely look she had at times, like Hades. And she had the unpredictability to Poseidon—like the sea. Not surprising, she was Tethys'—Kronos reminded himself to chew the Titaness out for hooking up with a mortal—and Poseidon's legacy after all.

Kronos was used to being called cold-hearted bastard—something his wife called him as he devoured their children.

But he _did_ had a heart; a heart for thought.

And he cursed himself for getting so soft. One year was all it took for Percy to get him to open up to her.

**LxP**

It took a while, but Luke recovered. Percy didn't know what had shocked him so badly that had made him cried silently. When the son of Hermes had found out that he'd nearly bawled like a five-year-old in front of two enemies and one constant-thorn-in-his-side-slash-brat-whose-loyalty-is-not-determined, his face had gone very, very red before he turned to glower at them.

"Tell anyone about this and I'll cut your tongue out and torture you—swear on the River Styx!" Luke snapped. This was directed at both Annabeth and Percy since Connor had fainted, tired of crying. His wailing and mumbles in his sleep seemed to be cornered around his brother who died and his anonymous mother.

Annabeth nodded and swore on the River Styx. That was something personal for Luke, she wouldn't pry. And the less she knew, the better. She didn't need to feel sorry for an enemy and might end up sparing in a battle. Something the son of Hermes could easily use against her.

Percy, however, was a different story. She wanted to use it as blackmail material, wanted to drag it out, to torture him. So she kept her mouth sealed and shook her head. "No." She signed.

That, definitely didn't bode well with Luke. He lunged at her when she sneered, "Aw—is baby boy Luke wailing for his daddy just now? What, did you suddenly see, from the sirens of yourself crying for Hermes?" the daughter of Kronos knew she was pushing it but the words kept coming, unable to contain her hatred—at Luke, at Annabeth, her mother for hooking up with Kronos and vise versa, at the Fates, at the unfairness of the world; _"Why do I have to die?!"_—just as she couldn't reign in her tongue. "Too bad Hermes wasn't there. I doubt he cared. He abandoned you didn't he? I bet he—"

"_Shut up_!"

Annabeth nearly jumped an inch when Luke screamed and threw a wild punch in Percy's direction. The daughter of Kronos rolled of her bunk bed and onto the ground. She darted behind Annabeth and looked at Luke curiously with doe eyes, as if she was the innocent one in this.

"Enough!" the daughter of Athena snapped. "NO hurting one another until this quest is over. You both swore on the River Styx!"

Percy rolled her eyes. "Fine." Then she swore on the River Styx to never tell anyone—or thing—that she'd seen Luke's breakdown. Luke threw her a dark glare, full of hatred and promises of pain before cooling down slightly.

Just barely to keep him from throttling the daughter of Kronos.

Neither of them spoke to one another for the rest of the journey to the island of the Cyclopes.

**LxP**

To reach the Cyclopes' lair. The questers need to scale a cliff. Ananbeth and Percy went first since Luke had kindly said that he would need to catch Percy if she ever fall, for if she died, Kronos would have Luke's head on a pike.

Percy, of course, didn't believe him when he'd said Kronos cared. "He's even worse than Hermes, don't be ridiculous."—But Luke could tell that it wasn't true. Kronos did care, however little it was, about Percy and would kill anyone daring to hurt her.

Having Kronos as a father wouldn't be as bad as Hermes for a half-blood.

They only came close to dying six or seven times, which Luke thought was pretty good. Once, he lost his grip and he found myself dangling by one hand from a ledge fifty feet above the rocky surf. But Percy saved him by letting him use her foot for a handhold before he found another handhold and kept climbing.

A minute later Percy hit a slippery patch of moss and her foot slipped. Fortunately, she found some thing else to put it against. Unfortunately, that something was Luke's face. She looked down at the blonde and said, "Sorry." She sounded anything but sorry.

Luke promised himself that he'll find a way to kill her. Someday. Somehow.

Finally, when Luke's fingers felt like molten lead and his arm muscles were shaking from exhaustion, he and his current allies hauled themselves over the top of the cliff and collapsed.

"Ugh," Luke groaned.

"Ouch," moaned Annabeth.

Luke wasn't sure about Percy but he thought she had passed out until something roared so loudly that the ground they laid on shook.

"That wouldn't happen to your stomach, would it?"

**LxP**

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I tortured Luke a little this chapter. Anyway, review! I want to hit 300+ reviews. Preferably, I want this story to reach 500+ review. Think it can make it?**

**Check my profile out for the poll for my new story. Who should Fem!Percy be paired with? Hercules? Luke? Triton?**

**And for Pothena lovers, I think it would suit your tastes.**

**Ciao~**


	20. XX

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Twenty: Hasta La Vista.**

* * *

"That wouldn't happen to be your stomach would it?" Percy asked weakly, rolling over onto her stomach.

"I would've known if it was my stomach," Luke muttered in response as the questers crowded around behind a boulder and peeked out.

The sight before Percy nearly made her stomach lurch. She swallowed uncomfortably as she studied the Cyclopes they were going to face. Though she did let out an inapt snicker when the Cyclopes she didn't know his name thanks to her dyslexic—talked about marrying Clarisse, the daughter of Ares and possibly the ugliest person Percy had ever met. She nearly laughed but Luke had elbowed her into silence she can say anything at all.

"Now's our chance to get in," Annabeth hissed but her plan went crushing down along with the boulder that had been placed before the entrance of the Cyclopes' lair, most likely to prevent the monster's catch from escaping—though Percy doubt the Cyclopes had such a brain capacity—and to stop anyone from entering—she also doubted the monster knew the demigods were there—or maybe he just put it there to trouble himself—this, she could believe; the monster was an idiot after all.

There was a moment of silence. And then, sarcastically: "Wonderful. How do we get in?

That was from Luke by the way.

Percy scowled.

"I don't know," she reluctantly admitted with a scowl. She turned to Annabeth and prompted, "Well? _Genius_ daughter of _Athena_, you _always_ have a plan right? Just like your mother—so what now?"

Annabeth scowled, recognizing but not acknowledging the sarcasm dripping from Percy's every word. "Give me a moment to think."

Silence reigned in on them again before, for whatever reason that Luke didn't want to know because he'd long since gave up to understand Percy's mindset which was very much like Kronos' (that even their speech were the same), Percy took out Riptide and started slashing on the boulder. Luke and Annabeth watched—the latter's brain still whirling for a plan—as sparks fly, leaving nothing but small, small scratches which frustrated Percy to no end.

After the fifth attempt, Luke finally voiced the question Annabeth was too busy to ask. "What are you doing?" the son of Hermes' tone of voice was laced with incredulity and bafflement.

"My ADHD's working up again," the daughter of Kronos grumbled. "I need to do something before I go crazy!"

"As if you already aren't," Luke snorted. "And doing something means doing it anyway even though it's crazy?"

A sheep bleated and Percy's mind strayed from her anger at Luke to the sheep's connection to Grover. She said, "The sheep's wool are so soft... so easy to cling to... think we can actually make Grover grow his so that we can pull on it?

"That's it!" Annabeth said in an Eureka-moment, slamming her fist onto her palm.

Percy stared at her. "Doesn't it hurt, punching your own palm?"

Luke rolled his eyes and pushed the daughter of Kronos out of the way before asking, "So? What did you come up with?"

Annabeth glowered at him for a moment—Percy noted that it was the first act of acknowledgement Annabeth gave to Luke ever since the ship incident—before snapping her reply: "Wait and do what I tell you to."

**LxP**

"Couldn't you just, like, have one of us use your invisibility cap?" That was said by the guy Annabeth had been crushing on since she was seven, his voice muffled by wool and she swore she heard, rather than saw him spit wool out of his mouth; Percy on the other hand, was sneezing like crazy but she managed to control it by not breathing, Connor was the one doing the best of not complaining which surprised everyone of them; Annabeth didn't know how long either of them will last.

"I agree—" Percy didn't have time to finish that rant because Annabeth hissed a warning that the Cyclopes was coming—Polyphemus was it?—and both the traitors had shut up.

Annabeth watched from afar, but still in a safe distance where she would be close enough to provide backup for her allies. She momentarily tensed when Polyphemus—honestly, for the life of her, she couldn't understand why Percy couldn't pronounce his name while she and Luke can—neared Percy's sheep, said something that was drowned out by the blonde's blood pounding in her ears from the anxiety, swatted it and moved on. Only then did she relaxed. She couldn't see well from her vantage point of view but she thought she saw Luke let out a sigh of relief and through lip-reading, said, "Glad she's not dead. Lord Kronos' going to kill me if something like that happens."

When Percy's, Connor's and Luke's mount crossed the threshold into the cave, she took a deep breath, knowing that it was her cue. "Hey!" she yelled loud enough for the whole island to hear them.

She shouted taunts and insults at him, even going so far as to mimick Percy's sneers and curses. Predictably, and to her glee, the monster ran after her, after fatuously throwing the questers main obstacle away. Annabeth had just finished thinking_thank Tyche that it's my day today_and then she tripped, her invisible cap falling off her head just as her head hit a rock.

Polyphemus bellowed his laughter, instantly sweeping her up into a bone-crushing hold but the daughter of Athena barely paid it any attention. The pain resounding in her brain was too great to bear and if the monster's laughter weren't killing her—because his loud, ugly laugh was like a thousand swords stabbing her eardrums—she would've hurled insults at him.

"I've caught Nobody!"

Percy's head snapped up, hoping for the otherwise, when she heard that. But no such luck, she thought bitterly as she took in Annabeth's dazed and pained expression. She cursed softly, "We've got to help her."

"Yeah!" a concerned Connor agreed instantly. "Let's form—"

"Why should we?" Luke interrupted but Percy caught the fleeting flash of pain before it disappeared. "We should really just leave her—"

"You bastard!" Clarisse screamed at Luke, jabbing her thumb in his direction and would've punched him in the face if Percy wasn't in the way. "She's your—our friend—"

"Was." Luke corrected sourly.

Connor snarled wordlessly at his half-brother.

"You've changed, Luke," Grover shook his head, disappointed. "You were different ever since Thalia died—"

"Shut up!" Luke snarled. "You have no right to talk about her—you killed her!"

Grover flinched. "N—no! She told me to lead you guys to Camp and leave her—"

"You shouldn't have listened."

Percy watched the blaming-fest took a different turn altogether and decided to intervene before it was too late. She drew Riptide and swung it in the forming circle of triangle, two ready to kill the son of Hermes while the latter wanted to throttle the formers' neck. What she did, of course got their attention.

"What the Hades?!"

"No time for this," Percy snapped. "You'll all do as I say and now, we're going to save Annabeth and slice some monster!"

A temporary truce was formed as Luke, Clarisse, Grover and Percy charged Polyphemus who had dropped Annabeth onto a pile of boulders once he saw the demigods charging at him.

**LxP**

Percy, Luke decided, was a great and ruthless leader, as he watched the Cyclopes begged and reasoned with the daughter of Kronos to spare him but got no mercy. She ruthlessly, with glee, stabbed Riptide down. Polyphemus howled in pain before disintegrating.

"Now," Percy said, swallowing once she caught sight of Tyson—who wasn't dead after all!—running towards them, Golden Fleece in hand and running from a flock of piranha sheeps. "Let's go."

The half-bloods all took off into a run. Clarisse had Annabeth slung over her shoulder like a sack of clour and was way ahead of them. Percy noticed that the blonde girl's forehead was bleeding even more now that she was being jostled. She turned to Tyson and yelled, "Throw the fleece! Annabeth needs it!"

Luckily, the young Cyclopes knew what she meant and didn't question her like Luke would if he was in Tyson's position, which reminded her how much of a jerk he is. Percy stumbled slightly under the weight of the fleece but she managed to drape it over Annabeth and part of Clarisse—which menergizedade the older girl grunt with the added weight—watching in awe as the Fleece worked it's magic; even Clarisse seeemed .

They boarded the ship and they immediately divided.

Luke and Percy stood on the left side of the deck while the others were on the right. It was obvious that Clarisse was taking charge now that Annabeth was out and she didn't trust Kronos' daughter and top minion. But both sides were under oaths, so liberation was the only way.

The moment they safely reached land—Annabeth was awake and healthy, Clarisse and the others were ready and rearing to fight—Luke immediately drew his sword, Backbiter.

He sneered at them, Percy standing silently behind him. "Hand the fleece over, Annie."

"Don't give it to him, Annie," Connor snapped back heatedly, throwing a rather ferocious glare at his half-brother. (_It_ _was him_his mind reminded him_This is the man that made you lose your brother, the only real family you ever had_kill him)

Annabeth glowered at him, hugging the Golden Fleece—which, in Mist form was a brown-gold coat—closer to her and snapped, "No way."

Luke scowled and lunged but Percy stuck her foot out, tripping him. Luke glared up at her and opened his mouth to say something but Percy knelt and held up her hand. Only when it came in contact with his head did he realize that it was a rock.

Percy struck him hard on the head and his eyes rolled back into his head. Unconscious.

The campers gawked at her as if they hadn't seen her before.

Percy rolled her eyes.

"Go," she said quietly.

"Why...?" Clarisse stared at the daughter of Kronos—whom she's swore on the River Styx she'll make pay—in disbelief. "I thought you were on Luke's side."

A dark look crossed Percy's face but it disappeared the moment Annabeth rushed forward and hugged her best friend. "Stay safe," the blonde daughter of Athena whispered before pulling back and together with her friends from Camp, left Percy and an unconscious Luke, with a last glance and wave back to her.

Percy held up her hand in a wave of reply. The waves of the ocean repsonded to her emotions. "Hasta la Vista..." she murmured.

She didn't care for the hell of lecturing she was going to get from Kronos and Luke later on because they were her friends in an odd sort of way.

And it was a friend's prerogative to watch out for one another.

**LxP**

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, school work and I kinda lost inspiration for all my stories.**


	21. XXI

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Twenty-One: The Titan's Curse Arc.**

* * *

Connor was miserable ever since he returned from the quest. He never played any pranks anymore and that understandable since his brother had died. There wasn't any news or any condolences letter from Hermes. He was starting to see why Luke had abandoned Camp – just what kind of father was Hermes?

He hated his father.

The only thing that kept him at Camp was Annabeth. He hadn't said anything to the daughter of Athena about his feelings for her and she remained oblivious viewing him as a close friend only. The both of them did almost everything together—it was a comfort, a past shadow of Travis.

Then there was Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, brought back to life thanks to the Golden Fleece. Annabeth was happy to have her sister figure back and spent quite a lot of time with her, sometimes, Connor caught them talking about Luke and it left him with a heartburn.

And it was around those times where he allow himself to drown in the void where his brother once was. Oh, brother my brother, where are you? That question always haunted him ever since Travis blew up on board the ship—miraculously, though Tyson made it out alive and found his way back to camp with Poseidon's help.

Which just highlighted Hermes' incompetence as a father. If Poseidon cared enough about his monster son, why couldn't Hermes care about his mortal son?!

"—nor! Connor!"

The son of Hermes jerked back to reality when he heard his name being called repeatedly. "Yeah?" he responded distractedly to Thalia.

The daughter of Zeus frowned slightly in concern. They had become sort of friends and Connor was the only to know that Thalia has a younger brother—mainly because they knew what the other was feeling, they both had lost a brother.

"We're here," she announced rather unnecessarily The three—Connor, Thalia and Annabeth—had been summoned by Grover for help. The demigods studied the military school building before walking in.

Bianca di Angelo and Nico di Angelo were the demigods assigned to Grover. Things lighten up for Connor for a while as he danced around the dance-floor with Annabeth while Thalia danced with Grover—though he was sure the raven had no feelings for the satyr or it'll be disgusting.

Things went to Hades when they suddenly lost sight of the two demigods. While Annabeth had gone on to find Thalia and Grover for help, Connor rather foolishly ran after the di Angelos instead, concerned that something'll happen to them.

He didn't want one of them to suffer the loss of a sibling if he can help it. And he can. He drew his sword which in Mist form was a watch. He frowned inconfusion at the petrified forms of the di Angelos. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Bianca di Aneglo clinched her fists. She seemed to be struggling against something and Connor's frown deepened. Did the monster put a binding on them?

"Watch out!" the cry burst forth from the girl a moment too later for Connor had fallen to his knees once a projectile came in contact with his shoulder.

He hissed in pain and turned to face his assailant, Dr. Thorn. "What are you?" he demanded, not recognizing the monster—the darkness wasn't helping his sight.

"Die—half-blood!" the monster, instead of answering, snarled.

Connor sincerely hoped that his empathy link with Grover was still active.

**LxP**

Percy was anything but happy. "What," she spat, venom dripping from her words. "is the meaning of this?"

Luke looked up calmly from his perch on the makeshift sofa. "What does it look like?" he replied nonchalantly before turning back to the magazine he was reading minutes before Percy had came storming in.

"Annabeth's your friend—my best friend!" the daughter of Kronos made a clawing motion at her throat before gesturing to the trapped daughter of Athena bearing the weight of the sky. "How can you do this to her?!"

Luke's face darkened. "This was your father's orders," he spat coldly. "ask him yourself."

"I think you know," Percy responded coldly, her eyes narrowing when Luke smirked.

"So what if I know?" Luke taunted, sitting straighter in his seat. "What would you do about it?"

"My skills with a sword is unrivaled as of now," Percy sneered arrogantly. "so you better spit it."

"Remember last summer?" Luke sighed dramatically as he rubbed the back of his head where Percy had given him a nice bump. It had been there for so long—and had just recently subsided—that he'd named it Bobbie. "Tis' your form of punishment from father—and me since I suggested it. Have fun guarding your...ah, best friend."

"Bastard," Percy hissed and would've broken into a long rant about Luke's attitude if Ethan Nakamura hadn't barge in with news. "What is it?" the brunette demanded sharply of the son of Nemesis. "This has better be good."

Ethan wasn't on very good terms with Percy—no one was really close to the daughter of Kronos with her glares of death—but his scale ranking was higher than that of many others in their army of demigods and monsters so he was pretty confident that Percy wouldn't really kill him.

"We've captured her!"

"Her?" Percy's eyebrow rose in irritation more than curiosity. "You mean Annabeth? We already have her—"

"Seaweed Brain," Luke scolded. "weren't you listening in our last meeting?" He was met with Percy's blank stare . Sighing, he elaborated something he had memorized in his sleep and still haunted his dreams. "We captured a female demigod as bait for Artemis. We all know she wouldn't let a maiden suffer. She'll take the burden of Annabeth's shoulders—and I sincerely hope that pleases you—and your friend will be free unless we have a change of plans and Artemis' ichor shall spill these ground; the flames of war shall brew! It's a win-win situation, now...can you do the honors of dragging the goddess here?"

Percy harrumphed but her eyes softened when she heard Annabeth's grunt, saw her shoulders shook under the weight of the heavens. She walked over to the blonde and swiftly knelt beside her and placed a soothing hand on the girl's forehead. "Just a little longer, Annie," she promised, her finger left a tingling sensation on Annabeth's forehead from her time spell that promised Annabeth zero pain in a timeless dimension. "she'll take over your burden soon."

"Let's go," she said as she turned to face Luke and Ethan.

The two boys smirked before following her lead.

**CxA**

Connor had never ever been as conflicted as he was now. One chance, one question. But he had so many questions to ask the old man: _Is Annabeth still okay? How can they save her? Where's the monster that is the biggest threat to the Olympians? Is Travis still alive? How can they save Artemis_?

Zoe would want to know anything concerning Artemis. Thalia would want him to be reunited with his brother—that's if, he isn't dead already. Chiron had encouraged him to find out more about the monster or the world will end. And he can't have that. He had been perpetually bitter since Travis' demise but he still held hope for the world. The gods can changed, that's what he and Travis believed. And he'll be damned if he let Travis' dream fade.

After all, as Silena had phrased it once: the true beauty of a dream is that it will forever outlive it's dreamer. Connor couldn't let Travis' legacy fade into nothingness—an era bound to come if the Titans won the war.

He took a deep breath, ready to only ask one question when an idea struck him. The son of Hermes grinned cheekily, a fire that had died appeared in his eyes even though it was barely less than a spark. "Answer two of my questions—I can ask of you anything right? So answer two of my questions!"

The old man of the sea wailed in despair. "Not fair—cheater!"

"I cheated fair and square," Connor shrugged. "Now answer my question: Is my brother, Travis Stoll still alive? If so, where can I find him?"

"Are those the two question?" Nereus challenged.

"No!" Thalia snapped. "It's all in one."

"Tsk, tsk, rude as ever children of Zeus." Nereus dug a finger into his ears before answering. "Yes, the son of Hermes' still alive and is..." his eyes darkened. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you where he is now. But wherever he is, he's safe and healthy and definitely alive."

Thalia let out a shout of happiness on behalf of Connor and though Zoe knew not of Travis, she let a tiny smile show on her features.

"Second question," Connor said, serious again. "Where can I find the monster?"

Nereus grinned cheekily. "Oh, that's easy. He's right here." The three questers looked down and instantly, the old man of the sea turned into a goldfish and swam away into the ocean.

"We were tricked!" Thalia cried indignantly.

Grover shook his head in disappointment.

Connor grind his teeth together. How was he suppose to know Travis' condition now? Or whether the old man was telling the truth about his brother.

"No, wait. Don't be hasty." Zoe held up a hand to stop both of their cursing. "This... Old Man Nereus is telling the truth."

"Bessie?" Connor murmured as he studied the half-bull and half-fish creature he'd met at the dam right after Bianca's death. "How can it be her? She's too cute for that!"

"Um, Connor?" Grover spoke up. "Bessei said it's name isn't 'Bessie', it's Ophiotaurus. And he said he isn't a 'she'."

Things just got a hell more complicated.

**CxA**

Zoe's eyes immediately zeroed in on the sword the daughter of Kronos was wielding. "I knew it," she snarled, infuriated and thoroughly disappointed at the young maiden. "only a hero like Heracles would ever wield that sword!"

Percy's golden eyes merely flitted over to her for a split second before turning back to Thalia. "Whatever," she said uncaringly. "I don't care what history you have with Heracles but you do have my condolences—you can try your luck at love again if you ever got out of here."

She delivered it in such a dry tone that Zoe thought she was joking.

Thalia stepped in front of Zoe protectively, glaring at Luke and Percy. "You little brat—"

"You made it sound as if you're so much older than her, Thalia," Luke laughed mockingly. Percy merely smirked, seeing the girl's plus one satyr's expression. But it dropped when Grover started playing a tune on his reed pipes; she drew her sword and charged him—speeding time to hurry her.

Zoe blinked in disbelief. One moment Percy was standing by Luke's side, the next, she was in front of Grover's fallen form. A bump was already forming on the satyr's head, between his horns.

The brunette shook her head, sighing. "What a disappointment. And you're the chosen one of Pan?"

"What do you mean by that?" Thalia demanded, tapping her bracelet and forming Aegis. The daughter of Kronos recoiled at the sight of the shield and the daughter of Zeus allowed herself a smile of sanctification before it was wiped away by Luke charging at her.

Their weapons—Luke's sword and Thalia's spear—met, forming sparks.

Zoe drew her hunting knives and engaged Percy in close-ranged combat. Not her field of specialty but it will have to at the moment. A cry from the son of Hermes turned her attention to Connor.

Without thinking, she lunged forward, arrows fired at her father's armpit—the only chink in his armor.

Percy raised a brow, impressed that the Lieutenant of Artemis had the guts to face her father. "Percy!" the daughter of Kronos turned at the call of her name.

"What?" she asked the chained daughter of Athena.

"Help me!" the blonde cried. "Free me!"

"Why?"

"The weight of the sky—Zoe and Connor won't be able to beat Atlas alone. They need Artemis!"

"If you say so," With a swipe of her sword, the chains around Annabeth fell. "Good luck."

Annabeth studied Percy carefully, trying to memorize her friend's face because she knew it would at least be a year or so before she see her again. She threw her arms around Percy and murmured in her ear, "I wish you'd chose properly where your loyalties lie."

"I'm not sure yet." Percy mumbled her reply as she watch Annabeth once again take the sky onto her shoulders. She watched apathetically as Zoe was swept aside by her father. The words of the prophecy their spy had delivered echoed in her mind: _And one shall fall by a parent's hand unless the fate's maiden lends her hand_.

She didn't wait to watch the outcome of the battle. With a flick of her wrist, she opened a portal of time. She needed to see a certain Frederick Chase.

**CxA**

_There are mortals in front of you, you shouldn't show any weakness_, Artemis reminded herself as she once again suppress a sob in her throat as she gazed at the fading luster of life in her precious Lieutenant's eyes. The usual silver glow—her blessing to all her precious, treasured Huntresses—that surrounded Zoe was flickering, fading slowly.

"My, my," a mocking voice resounded in the darkness drew everyone's attention. "Whoever knew an Olympian will have feelings?"

"Daughter of Kronos," Thalia spat the tittle with hate.

"Daughter of Zeus," Percy responded coolly. "As eloquent as your father I see."

"Don't fight," Annabeth warned them.

"It's not going to help in anything," Connor added as he blinked his tears back when he looked upon Zoe's fallen form. A good friend, dying again. He'll lose her just as he had lose his brother. Though the pain of losing Zoe wouldn't be as great as when Travis had died; it added to the weight of pain and guilt and it still hurts.

Thalia balled her hands into fist but refrain from doing anything since Annabeth's father was just behind Percy. And if she struck, miss Percy, she'd end up hurting the mortal man. "What do you want?" she instead demanded.

"_And one shall fall by a parent's hand unless the maiden of fate lends her hand_." Percy recited the prophecy as she made her way to Zoe. Artemis tightened her grip protectively around Zoe but the daughter of Kronos didn't pay her any heed. "If you want her to live," the daughter of Kronos warned, tone dangerous. "you'll hand her over."

Reluctantly, Artemis laid Zoe on the ground. Percy lightly tapped Zoe's wound which made the latter hissed and grit her teeth in pain. Artemis scowled and was about to say something when Percy's hand glowed a brilliant blinding golden hue that forced all of the present—even the goddess—to avert their gaze.

When Artemis could finally see straight again, she looked down and gasped in delight at the sight. Zoe was sleeping peacefully, her heart rising up and down—a sure sign of life—and her skin healthy once more. Though the silver glow was gone, it could be quickly amended.

"Where's Percy?" Connor asked.

They all shared a glance. "The prophecy came true," Artemis said, finally breaking the awkward silence. "The maiden of fate was Percy."

"How come?" Thalia frowned in confusion. "Is she, like, related to the Three Fates or something?"

"It'll be a catastrophe if the Fates ever had any mortal children." Connor muttered darkly. "I'd bet my right arm that their children will mess with other people's life for sure." Annabeth stepped on his shoe to shush him, upsetting the Fates that even made some gods cower in fear wasn't something one should do. Especially a demigod.

"Kronos was the Titan Lord of Time, Harvest, Justice and Fate. Percy had control over all those domains of her father's. She can change the fate of someone." Annabeth explained.

"Is she helping you guys then?" Annabeth's father asked, confused. "Isn't that a good thing? A spy for you. Why the grim faces."

Annabeth cast her gaze downwards. She wished things were that easy as her father made it sounded. "We know nothing of her loyalties."

Silence reigned in on them as they tried to puzzle out the enigma which was one daughter of Kronos, Percy Jackson.

**CxA**

* * *

**A/N: **all right, sorry for the late update. i have questions for you guys: one, do you want Zoe to be paired with anyone or have her leave the Hunt?

if Zoe is to leave the hunt, who should she be paired with?

and who should Travis be paired with? Percy will end up with either Luke or Apollo so not her, answer through your reviews thanks.

oh, if anyone's interested in Naruto or PJO Rp-ing. go to my profile, there's a link to both forums. the Naruto forum is relatively new though and needs people to join.


	22. XXII

**Daughter of Time**

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Romanticism Meets ****Cynicism**

* * *

Zoe's living changed everything.

When the subject of Percy was brought up on Olympus, various reactions were showed. Apollo's and Artemis' were those of outrage—they were on Percy's side; Apollo because there were just some feelings you couldn't discard as if they were trash and Zoe meant everything to Artemis—when the subject of just killing the daughter of Kronos, who till date, still wandered around the streets of Manhattan together with the son of Hermes, Luke.

Hermes protested too, because he knew—with slight guilt because he had been observing the Titan army's actions through his son and had never reported their activity to Zeus—Percy was influencing his son's future. When he'd last check up on his son, back when Luke hadn't met Percy, his son had shown now signs of ever saving Olympus—and Hermes had been ready to kill the boy—but meeting Percy changed everything

Without knowing it, Luke was being influenced by Percy's sense of justice—pounded into her head by her mortal mother and on of the domains Kronos presided over. The future wasn't as dark and set in stone as Hermes'd thought now.

The demigods objected as well, Poseidon wasn't too keen on having people blasting his legacy to bits. Hestia, being one of who can see the future when anything concerned family, agreed with the sea god. Hermes didn't know what she saw in her hearth, but her expression was always grim and sad back when Percy hadn't made herself know. But now, there was that special kind of light in Hestia's eyes whenever she looked into the hearth and saw the future.

Definitely a positive sign.

Dionysus and Demeter and Hades abstained.

Aphrodite was, along with the Twin Divine Archers, among the first to let Percy live. Hephaestus agreed because his wife charm-speaked him into doing so.

Zeus never showed it nor did he admit it, but he loved his daughter more so than his other children. He was easily swayed when Thalia flashed him those hurt puppy eyes. Hera, ever the loyal wife, was forced to agree with her husband's decision to spare Percy because of her domain.

She failed to drill a hole in the daughter of Zeus' head though.

Ares agreed because he thought the daughter of Kronos living would make things bloodier because she was a "cold hearted little bitch".

Athena was pitifully overruled by the other Olympians' decision and Poseidon never quite stopped smiling at her infuriated face. The goddess of wisdom ignored her rival's smug smile and instead, turned to her favorite daughter.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Annabeth."

"I know," the blonde replied quickly, too quickly. "She's my friend and she holds true to her father's domain more than he ever did—more than he ever will."

Hera sniffed, miffed that she had to be reminded of the fact she now had a half-mortal sister.

The meeting was over there and then. Athena left after glaring hard at Poseidon, and he was gone once his rival was gone. Aphrodite winked suggestively at Apollo before leaving together with Hephaestus and Ares. The others left on their own pace, leaving only Artemis and Apollo plus the questers for Artemis.

"You did well," Apollo grinned at them.

Thalia studied him, she'd though of him as a flirt and playboy that'd break any girl's heart without a second thought and forget them immediately after. But seeing him object venomously to Percy's execution decision, her opinion changed somewhat.

She grunted in acknowledgement to his praise.

"Zoe," Artemis called and instantly, said girl was at her side.

"Yes, milady?"

"After your...ah, first death, your vow to me has been broken and if you still want to be my Lieutenant, you need to make the pledge once more," Artemis seemed hesitant when she said this and her twin brother patted her shoulder for comfort, reassuring her that Zoe wouldn't decline the offer.

And she didn't.

The daughter of Atlas smiled dazzlingly. "Of course, milady." And she knelt, reciting what Bianca had said a few days ago; her pledge to the goddess of Hunt.

To Thalia, it seemed that a few centuries had passed since Bianca's initiation into the Hunt.

She wasn't immortal and yet she felt old; how would immortals feel?

**AxP**

It was cold. Her breath came out in small puffs of white clouds; she could see them float in the sky, disappearing from the naked eye a moment after they first felt the feel of floating in thin air. Percy vaguely wondered how that would feel; whatever it felt like, it wouldn't be something she'd be experiencing.

The brunette switched her gaze from the sky to the note in her hand. The grocery list, her mother had sent her shopping for tonight's dinner. A big occasion—in her mother's eyes but Percy didn't see a big deal about it—since Percy was suppose to meet Paul, her mother's boyfriend for the first time.

When she'd told Luke and her father about this, to ask for permission to leave the Titans camp, their reaction amused her and bemused her at the same time.

Luke reacted this way:

"_What_?"

Percy scowled at Luke.

"Do you have a problem with that?" she demanded.

"No, none," the son of Hermes said once he'd composed himself. "It's just that... your mother must be really pretty to be able to _score_ a younger man at such an old age—Ow!"

Percy seethed, landing another blow on Luke's head before grabbing his collar and shaking him like a ragdoll—did Luke mention she had a monstrous amount of strength? "You _never_ met her so _don't_ call _my_ mother _old_. You hear me?!"

"Yes, ma'am," Luke mumbled, dizzy as he pried Percy's slender fingers from his neck. He tried in vain to smooth his rumpled collar. "Look at what you did, I ironed them myself you know?"

She huffed.

"I'll iron them for you next time."

Luke stared at her warily. "You're not going to burn them are you? These clothes are expensive."

"Not that you bought them."

"True," the son of the god of thieves agreed shamelessly. "I stole them but it still count as an effort. You better not burn them if you're going to iron them."

"Give an inch and he took a mile—treating me like a slave..." Percy muttered as she left Luke back to his lounging on the coach, watching TV news.

It was only after she left the base that she realized she'd just offered to do something for Luke on her own will, and she hadn't any regrets. The tingling sensation she felt in her stomach when the blonde'd grinned at her never really left and she was bemused.

Kronos reaction was like this:

"_What_?"

Percy showed more restrain and respect to Kronos than she did Luke with the knowledge that her father could kill her with a bat of his eyelashes.

Instead of scowling, she discreetly rolled her eyes. "I said, my mom's going to let me meet her boyfriend and I _have_ to be there."

"To see whether or not is he worthy?" Kronos interjected.

Percy nodded. "If he mistreats her... well... dad, you're not going to hate me for _accidently_ losing my grip on my _kitchen knife_ now right?"

The Titan of Time smirked, he definitely could see who's mindset she had.

"Sally definitely deserves better than a pig of a man," Kronos agreed. And Percy almost thought he was complimenting her mother when he added, "but no man's going to be better than me of course; I'm definitely the best."

Percy coughed to cover up her incredulous laughter—she failed miserably since Kronos glared half-heartedly at her.

"Go now," Kronos waved his hand irritably her way, a clear sign he wanted her to leave her mindscape which was 'invaded' by her father. "better exploit the man for who he was before he can continue to torture your mother."

It was when Percy had left her dreamscape—and woke up with her head in Luke's lap, though she tried to ignore that fact and the fact that she blushed madly while Luke smirked smugly her way—that she realized Kronos had sounded like he cared. It bemused her; why would he ever care for a mortal woman?

"Percy...?"

The daughter of Kronos tensed, having just been brought back to reality by the painfully familiar voice. A voice she hadn't heard in... nearly three years; and it was just such a fucking long time.

She whirled around, grudgingly acknowledging him.

"Apollo."

**AxP**

It had to be either sheer luck or meddling of the Fates for Apollo to see Percy wandering around the streets.

"Percy...?" he called, tone disbelief of his own luck. He never expected for the girl to turn.

Never expected for her to call his name again: "Apollo?"

"Percy!" a grin blossomed on his face as he closed the distance between him and her. Not failing to notice that she'd grown taller but was still a head shorter than him, that her hair now cascaded down her back; she was slender and had some muscles on her lithe form now, and she was definitely more prettier.

Was it natural or was it because he hadn't seen her for so long?

The daughter of Kronos sneered at him but the sun god wasn't offended, knowing that was how she greeted people. He stared at her face, her face forever cementing in his mind for him to compare with how she looked when she was younger later.

Now though, he found he had many things he wanted to say but... he couldn't say anything and Percy didn't seem incline to say anything either.

Finally, awkwardly: "Er... how's things going?"

Percy smiled—a smile too imperceptible and non-existent to others except for those close to Percy. But Apollo lived to see Percy smile, he noticed the small curve of her lips instantly and he felt his grin widen.

"I'm not going to tell you of all people," the brunette replied as she turned and walked off.

Apollo followed. "Where're you going?"

"Grocery shopping."

The blonde man raised an eyebrow. "Oh, right, even Titans need to feed their army."

"No—it's not for them, it's for mom," Percy shot him an annoyed glance briefly before turning her eyes back to the streets. "Titans feed their army monster chow. Not that it'd hurt the monsters, they'd just come right back—"

"Are you serious?" Apollo questioned incredulously, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

Percy smirked.

"Figure that out yourself."

"Before you do that," the sun god persisted, quickening his pace till her overtook Percy and settled himself in front of her, stopping her from moving forward. "Why don't you and I go on a date?"

The daughter of Kronos stared at him as if he were insane and in a way, the immortal being was. He half-expected her to reject him and punch him but she nodded.

"You agree this easily?" Apollo asked cautiously, suspiciously.

"If I don't agree, you'll keep pestering me until I do," the daughter of Kronos replied, irritated. "and the lengths you'd go through to convince me will be great. Your romanticism will be killing me then."

Apollo grinned and took her hand in his; Percy frowned, tried to tug her hand from his but failed, and was forced to follow wherever he planned for them to go.

Rather cynically, Percy admitted that she'd thought Apollo was going to kill her on sight instead of inviting her out to a date and she was half-expecting for him to bring her to a secluded place before he dispose of her.

Apollo knew of course, what she was thinking but he merely grin and didn't say anything.

When romanticism meets cynicism, the former's bound to win.

**AxP**

* * *

A/N: Late update right? My mood hasn't been good lately—how can one's mood be great when they find out their school is haunted?—and so, I have lost the inspiration to write. But I'll try to update anyway.

The pairings for Zoe will be Artemis; there'd be more of Zertemis more in the future. And Thalia's paired with Leo. Annabeth/Connor. As for Travis... maybe Reyna?

I posted a new story, a Naruto and PJO crossover, go check it out.

And I'm planning on posting a new story: Nico/Percy. Here's a sneak preview; it may change though, I'm still unsure.

_They knew every inch of each other's bodies. They knew each other's bodies as well as they knew their own._

_Each knew the other's skin, his eyes, his hair. Each knew the other's voice, what he sounded like when he murmured, what he sounded like when he screamed himself hoarse._

_Each knew the other's sensitive spots. Each knew how to make the other sweat, how to make the other pant, how to make the other moan._

_Each knew—as no one else in the world could know—how the other one __moved__. Each knew how the other's muscles flexed, slackened, tensed. Each knew the other at his very best, breathing hard, limbs trembling, every muscle moving and pulling, that unending and exhausting and intoxicating rhythm._

_They knew how to respond to each other, how to move as__one__, how to compliment each other exactly. Perfectly._

_They knew each other thoroughly, consummately, and intimately._

_On the battlefield._

_And only on the battlefield._

_This is a discussion of their combat tactics._

_Obviously._

_It didn't mean anything else. One must know one's enemy; the better one knows one's enemy, the better one may fight him. If they hadn't known each other so well, neither could have survived so many battle with each other. It was a matter of survival. It was a matter of necessity, of life and death. In order to protect themselves and their clans, they had __needed__ to have that knowledge of each other._

_So was it really so strange—_

_Oh, please, __please__, don't think of that, don't think about..._

_... Was it really so strange, even now, even when they were allies, even when they hadn't fought each other in so, so long..._

_Was it really so strange for Nicodemus to still have that same obsession? Was it really so strange for that too, too intimate knowledge to rise up in his mind, with such alarming frequency, whenever the co-founder of his Camp was around, and whenever he __wasn't__ around?_

End of preview.


	23. XXIII

**Daughter Of Time**

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Family Ties.**

* * *

After her sort of date with Apollo, Percy'd liked to say things went well for her after that. Unfortunately, life for a half-blood—being a demigod was unfortunate, a demi-titan was just a plain curse—was never easy. Apollo'd insisted on walking her home even though it was obvious she could crush anything that would dare to assault her and what he did earned her a lecture and interrogation from her mother in front of her possibly-soon-to-be-step-father.

The mortal man and her meeting hadn't went like Sally had planned obviously. At least she knew he was better than Smelly Gabe as Apollo had assured her. She still couldn't puzzle out how he knew what kind of man Paul Grace was with just a glance. But he was the god of truth so it had to count as something.

Dinner was rather tense and awkward especially when Paul asked her where she studied and she answered, rather tactlessly, that she didn't go to school. He was so horrified by that thought that he instantly dialed a number and placed her a deposit in the school he was teaching in—Goode High School. Sally shot her an apologetic look from across the dinner table when Percy looked at her mother for help.

After excusing herself and allowing her mother to converse something with her boyfriend, Percy went into her room—her mother still kept the place clean even though her daughter didn't leave there as often anymore—and dialed Luke's number.

_Pick up the damn phone before I attract any monsters_, Percy thought bitterly.

"Luke speaking—"

"Luke, do me a favor and pack my clothes then can you send them to my mother's house? I'm staying the year."

A long silence before sounds of shuffling could be heard. "May I ask why?" Luke asked after a pregnant pause.

With a long sigh, Percy gave Luke a short version, waiting impatiently—she was ADHD, couldn't help it—before the son of Hermes answered. "I don't know how your father will take this," he said finally. "and if he ever asks, you'd be on your own answering that."

"I know." And she killed the call.

Long after Paul left, a hellhound appeared, freaked her mother out and delivered her suitcase. With a note attached to it: _R.I.P —_ _Defied her father's orders one too many times_.

Sally laughed when she read it, ruffling her precious daughter's hair before helping her move her transfer her things into her room. The mortal woman's heart warmed at the thought of spending a year with her daughter and couldn't help but thank Kronos for giving her a precious jewel.

Percy saw her mother's happy expression and couldn't help but smile. It only widened slightly when she read the rest of the note from Luke, _she was a good friend, too bad she had to die_.

**LxP**

"Are you sure you'll be okay, sweetheart?"

Percy sighed before mustering a weak smile—she was learning to do that a lot lately—and nodding, reassuring her mother that she'd be fine before she got out of the car, inhaling the fresh air. She scanned the area and spotted her mother's boyfriend conversing with a teenage girl that seemed to be about Percy's age.

Seeing no harm in approaching them, the fifteen-year-old approached them and greeted her soon-to-be-step-father warmly. What she did not expect was for the redheaded girl to gasp when she saw Percy. The daughter of Kronos frowned and shot the redhead an odd look before entering the building.

"Mistress!"

Body tensed when she heard the familiar feminine and annoyingly sweet voice, she turned towards the speaker. Her jaw clenched when she said the girl's name: "_Kelli_."

Said monster waltzed towards the younger girl, her apprentice whose name Percy didn't bother to learn trotting obediently behind her mentor. The nameless _empousa_ bowed at Percy respectfully not Kelli merely nodded at her and irked the daughter of Kronos to no end—the older _empousa_ should be showing her more respect than _this_.

"What do you want?" the brunette demanded coldly.

"Just to greet you," Kelli said smiling flirtatiously—Percy learned through Luke that _empousa_s had no gender preference so she wasn't off-limits to those monsters—and batting her eyelashes seductively. "And, we hope you won't interfere with our demigod hunting."

"Which demigod?"

Kelli's lip curled in disdain, as if she couldn't fathom why the daughter of their leader of operation wouldn't know. "The daughter of Zeus," Kelli's apprentice answered instead. "she's here."

"Thalia Grace?" Percy inhaled sharply when Kelli nodded.

"And just so you know, milady," the apprentice empousa added quickly as more mortals filtered towards them, obviously attracted to the trio of attractive girls—_ ugh, males_. "Thalia Grace is Paul Grace's niece through the girl's mother. Thalia has nowhere to go and since Paul is her only mortal family left, she'd most likely be staying with him." The silent _if your mother's marrying him, then she'd be living with you, what do you do now?_ went unsaid but rang true.

Percy didn't have time to gape as the mortals, with their incessant chattering and pushy attitude swept her away and into the auditorium. She processed the new information; she'd passed Paul and Thalia's same surname as a coincidence and now it led her to this. As if the daughter of Zeus wasn't connected to her enough already. Through their Greek inheritance, Percy was Thalia's aunt—as odd as it sounds and it'd be even more weird when one knew that Thalia was older than her aunt—and through their mortal blood, they'd be cousins.

She. was. fucked. So to speak.

She was so distracted that she allowed the crowd of over-excited teenagers to steer her along the tour. She only jerk out of her reverie when someone wailed and the fire alarms blare. She knew instantly that it was Kelli and her apprentice's doing; _damn them_, didn't she tell them to keep a low profile?

The daughter of Kronos sprinted forwards, ignoring the mortals' cries. She nearly ripped the doors off its hinges to get inside. She wasn't faze when the flames licked her cheeks, wasn't faze when smoke entered her lungs and eyes. But even so, she shuddered slightly when she saw the pair of bright electric blue eyes across from her. A quick scan let her see the redhead she saw with Paul earlier emerald orbs. Her ADHD allowed her to take in their appearance in a second.

The daughter of Zeus had let her hair grow longer, spiky raven hair touching her shoulders. Her skin was tanner and she was taller; the girl's glare was as venomous as ever and she still wore her mix of punk and goth style of clothes. The redhead was a mortal, Percy can tell, but a clear-sighted mortal. Emerald green eyes stared at her in fear, wavy red hair framed a rather pretty face sprinkled with freckles that reminded Percy of constellations.

Her sight of them was obscured by none other than Paul who put a protective hand over her shoulder. Percy looked up at Paul with wide eyes, hoping that she looked innocent and clueless enough. Paul murmured some reassuring words to her before turning to his niece with a stern look.

"Thalia," he said, voice strained and stern but it still drew the girl's attention when he said her name. "What is the meaning of this? You promised me you'd behave, and this is how you greet your cousin?"

"What cousin?" the daughter of Zeus demanded before her eyes landed on the daughter of Kronos. She made a strangled sound. "You don't mean Percy...do you?"

Paul's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. To Percy, he looked awfully calm even for a mortal and in a midst of panicked mortals too... unless—the daughter of Kronos turned to face her future-step-father with one akin to horror.

The clear-sighted mortal man—Grace's family was just full of them aren't they?—glanced between his niece and future daughter. "You knew one another?"

"On the battlefield!" Thalia screamed in disbelief. "She's the enemy!"

Percy's jaw clenched. Nothing ever seemed to go right for her. She finally got the chance to spend a year with her mother and now she had to leave, for her mother's safety. All because of the blasted daughter of Zeus.

She raised her chin high and jerked her head to the emergency exit. "I suggest you leave before the mortals catch on through the Mist." She said coldly, looking at Paul and silently promising him an explanation.

Thalia shot her a furious look, grabbed the redhead and ran for the exit. Paul instantly turned on her, confusion written all over his face. "Percy, what—"

"Let's find a safe place to talk first." Her voice was filled with so much authority that the mortal man couldn't help but obey. Making sure that no one saw them leave, he gestured for her towards the cafeteria where no one occupied.

Paul crossed his arms, stern like a parent as he dealt his child a punishment. With a sigh, Percy gave him the brief version and she was slightly amused at Paul's look of bafflement as he studied her in a new light. It apparently was too much to take because he sunk into a chair opposite of Percy.

He shook his head in disbelief. "I thought you looked familiar at first. You looked a lot like the likeness of Kronos in some museums you know that?"

The daughter of Kronos cocked her head. No, she didn't know that.

"I just passed it of as a coincidence. All this while, I ignored the aura you exuded." He met her eyes. "Its the same aura Thalia has but yours was so much more overpowering and commanding."

She smirked. "I know," she said. "That upstart's daughter couldn't possibly be stronger than me."

Paul shook his head. "To think Paula managed to get the King of Olympus to fall in love with her..."

"I don't care about the family history," Percy interrupted rudely. "But we have more important things to talk about, like my mother. Are you going to leave her now that you know the Jacksons' family history?"

"No!" Paul protested vehemently. "I love Sally—I won't leave her because of you—"

"Good," Percy stood abruptly. "My mom is the greatest person there is in the world, she deserves all the love in the world. If you hurt her though..." the daughter of Kronos leaned in closer, her voice a menacing hiss. "I'll make you suffer—no child of Zeus will be able to shield you from my wrath. You got that?"

Paul nodded hastily, a bead of sweat trickling down his temple. Satisfied with what she saw in Paul's eyes, Percy turned to leave.

"Wait!" the mortal man cried. "Where are you going? And what about my niece?"

The daughter of Kronos' face darkened at the mention of the daughter of Zeus and in a stony voice, she answered, "Your niece will be doing something against my father's army soon. I will not stand by and do nothing." She hesitated. "Paul... if I don't come back... take care of my mother. Tell her I love her."

"No," the man said. "Come back and say that to her yourself."

Percy shot him a look of grudging admiration before she left. Apollo wasn't lying after all, Paul Grace was a good name. A good person to leave her mother with. They'd have perfectly normal mortal children, not a demi-titan child. They'd forget her eventually and her family ties to them.

She swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth and forged on.

**AxP**

Rachel Elizabeth Dare breathed harshly as she slowed to a stop beside the daughter of Zeus. "T—that's the girl."

"You know her?" Thalia demanded, frown deepening as she tried to process the information of Paul's and Percy's relationship.

"From my dreams," Rachel answered truthfully. She hesitated and wondered whether or not should she trust this eccentric girl that had swung her sword at her. But she pondered too long because Thalia hastily excused herself after they met up with her blonde friend and left. However, the redhead managed to scribble down her own number on Thalia's hand before the latter had to leave.

Rachel studied Goode High School in flames, frowning deeply. Her hand dug into her pocket and drew out a crumpled piece of paper. She smoothed it and stared at it, long and hard. The picture was the sketch of a girl with great detail, brown-blonde hair and gold eyes—the daughter of Kronos that Thalia said was the enemy. The girl Rachel had seen greeting Paul with a warm smile, his step-daughter. And beside the girl's figure (the daughter of Kronos looked older and more world-weary than she did now in the picture) was a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes.

And below it, written in ominous Greek language: _She is waking_.

**AxP**

* * *

**A/N: **Who should Thalia be paired with?  
Oh, also, I decided that Percy and Luke would just have a sibling-relationship. She'd either end up with Jason or Apollo. Who do you prefer?  
Can you guess who's awakening?


	24. XXIV

**Daughter Of Time**

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Blood Is Thicker Than Water.**

* * *

Thalia Grace was having the shock of her life. When her uncle—father in anything but blood, really; though that didn't mean she loved her real father any less(said love was rather non-existent)—had told her he was marrying a mortal woman by the name Sally Jackson, Thalia was delighted at the prospect of a nice 'foster/step-mother' though the name Jackson put her on the edge—the woman's last name was the same as her arch-nemesis'.

But when she saw the daughter of Kronos, bloody Percy Jackson, and her uncle together, she knew this girl was her soon to be cousin. And when she IM'ed her uncle to make sure she was merely hallucinating, Paul all but yelled out to the world he was marrying the mother of the daughter of Kronos. Which meant that Thalia and Percy will be related even more now. The daughter of Zeus nearly passed out when she managed to process this information.

She'd been looking forward to a nice mortal cousin/slash. Not an all powerful demi-titan. Thalia sighed loudly, so deep in thought that she didn't notice Annabeth sliding into a seat next to her until the daughter of Athena gave her a friendly hip bump.

Thalia looked distractedly at her best friend. "Yeah?" she asked. "What is it?"

Annabeth was frowning. "What's wrong with you?"

"Just found out some shocking news," Thalia sighed loudly before telling her friend everything. Annabeth was a good listener but even she could keep her loud outburst of _what!_ before quieting down when campers started looking at them and their other activies' director, Quintus shot them a warning look.

"We'll talk more about this later, okay?" Annabeth whispered before slipping out of her seat and returning to table six.

Thalia grumbled and stabbed her fork into the potato. She hated those things.

**LxT**

"No way."

Luke scowled heavily. "I am your leader. You'll listen to what I say, Percy."

The daughter of Kronos threw her older brother figure a frustrated look. Ever since the plan had been revealed to him, Luke had been a very irritating man—in short, someone no one would want to be around much, if, at all. These days, only she could withstand his horrible temper—only because her temper was worse than his and she was more patient albeit snappish.

"Fine," she said. Just as she stepped forward and towards the monstrous son of Posiedon and Gaia, the heavy double doors burst open and she felt Luke put his hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to his side. She slumped back onto the golden throne beside him and watched curiously as a familiar dark-haired daughter of Zeus, blonde daughter of Athena and an odd redhead, was pushed into the arena.

Thalia instantly spotted the daughter of Kronos who was lounging on her golden throne. She was about to open her mouth and demand her let them go and curse her when she saw the playful glint in the golden-eyed girl's eyes.

"Antaeus," she said and the giant of fifteen foot scowled at the small girl—compared to him anyway—as if he wanted to kill her but couldn't. Thalia figured that it had something to do with the girl's father and that he was the giant's patron. "You say we would we allowed passage once you got an entertaining fight?"

The son of Gaia and Poseidon grunted his acknowledgement and she smiled, and though the smile was beautiful on her face, it held no warmth. She stood, as graceful as a swan and Thalia instantly hated her for that sort of grace. Her last name was Grace but she was as graceful as a gigantic oaf and knew she'd looked like a goblin next to the daughter of Kronos.

Also, she did not like what Percy seemed to be planning.

"Well then," Percy said, descending the steps and walking towards the demigods and drawing her sword. "Send out your best fighters, me and Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus shall defeat them."

"What?" Thalia exploded. "I never said anything of the sort! Who gives you the right to—"

Percy waved her hand and the daughter of Zeus found herself unable to finish the sentence, trapped in time, she could only glare. "What do you say?" the brunette continued. "Its a win-win situation for both; entertainment for you and passage for us."

"Perhaps, we shall see," Antaeus waved his hand, bellowing his laughter as the gate was raised and two _dracaenae_s slithered out. They had a trident in each hand and a weighted net in the other—classic gladiator style that Thalia knew well and could beat with her eyes closed. Judging from the look on Percy's face, she probably thought the same but neither she nor Luke looked happy with the 'perhaps' on Antaeus part.

"Wait," Thalia said once Percy unfroze her from time. "If we entertain you with battles, you'll let us go—me and my friends. Swear it on the River Styx!"

Percy frowned at her. "Do you realize that—"

"Shut up."

Surprisingly, she did listen to Thalia. Or maybe because Antaeus bellowed his agreement. And with that, the fight was one. The monsters lunged at both girls. Thalia's _dracaenae _jabbed at her experimentally but she stepped away and raised her spear, jabbing the monster in the chink of its armor, she watched as it disintegrated before her eyes. She turned to see how her reluctant ally was doing; just in time to see Percy cut her monster in half.

"No!" Antaeus bellowed. "Too fast! You must wait for the kill. Only I give that order!"

Percy scowled at him then turned to Luke with an exasperated expression on her face—it made Thalia's heart ached at the thought of the two so close they can understand each other with only looks where she and Luke no longer possess such empathy—as if she wanted the older demigod to do something to save her from this mess she threw herself in.

Thalia, instead, glanced at Rachel and Annabeth. She needed to find a way to free them and beat the shit out of like, a hundred, number of enemies the same time. She couldn't possibly multitask.

"Nice job, Thalia." Luke smiled after throwing Percy a look that clearly stated _wait and be patient, you'll be rewarded_. "You've gotten better with the sword. I'll grant you that."

Thalia sneered at him, slurring a few choice of curse words that seemed to impress Percy. Her golden eyes glittered miscellaneously and suddenly, Thalia had no problem believing that Apollo could fall deeply and truly in love with her. She smiled slightly, somewhat genuinely, and Thalia reckoned that if they weren't enemies, they could have been good friends.

"Round two!" Antaeus yelled, tearing Thalia out of her reverie. "And slower this time! More entertainment! Wait for my call before killing anybody. OR ELSE!"

The gates opened again, and this time a young warrior came out. He was a little older than the two girls, about sixteen or seventeen. He had glossy black hair, and his left eye was covered with an eye patch. He was thin and wiry so his Greek armor hung on him loosely. He stabbed his sword into the dirt, adjusted his shield straps, and pulled on his horsehair helmet.

Thalia thought he looked ridiculous and Percy coughed to cover up her laughter.

"Who are you?" Thalia tried instead of outright laughing at the poor, embarrassed guy.

"Ethan Nakamura," he said simply. If he was in anyway offended by Percy's laughter, he didn't show it. "And I have to kill you."

"Oh, Nakamura," Percy said, realization dawning on her face. "I'll sit this one out. Good luck, daughter of Zeus."

Thalia refrained from commenting and instead, engaged Ethan in battle. Their weapons met in midair, sparks flying. The two demigods exchanged thrusts and parries; Thalia was impressed with the boy, he was obviously the son of a minor god and yet he managed to match up with a child of the Big Three. Not bad, not bad at all. But she hadn't even gone full power and she certainly didn't want to fight him, he was just misled. Poor kid.

Though Thalia wasn't concentrating, she didn't make a mistake. Ethan who was doing the contrary, did. He tried jabbing at the daughter of Zeus' stomach. Frowning, she locked his sword hilt with hers and twisted. His katana hit the dirt. Before he could recover, Thalia slammed the butt of her spear into his helmet and pushed him down. His heavy armor helped her more than him. He fell on his back, dazed and tired. Thalia positioned the tip of her sword on his chest.

"Get it over with," Ethan groaned.

Thalia looked up at Antaeus. His red face was stony with displeasure, but he held up his hand and put it thumbs down. Naturally, she defied his orders, taunted him and challenged him to a fight—of course, she didn't forget to repay the daughter of Kronos, by dragging her into the battle too. But Percy didn't seem to mind, she looked glad that she was offered some real challenge instead.

"Thalia, Percy!" Annabeth yelled, wriggling in her captor's hold to evade the hand trying to clamp on her mouth. "He's the son of Gaia. The goddess of earth, he can't—" the rest of her sentence was drowned out by the monster's hand.

Thalia didn't see the importance of it but Percy frowned as if something was bothering her. The dark-haired girl turn her attention back to Ethan. "When you get the opportunity run." She ordered as she readied her spear and summoned her shield, Aegis.

Thalia at first reckoned that she wouldn't work well at all with Percy and that she'd regret pulling her into this because they'd just get in one another's way. But that thought soon died when they found themselves fighting back to back; the daughter of Zeus playing defense and the daughter of Kronos tackling the offense.

The scary part was that when electric blue met golden hues, they knew instantly what the other would do. Thalia readied her spear and charged the son of Gaia, distracting him while Percy climbed up the chains with skulls hanging from them, messing around and tying knot after knot.

"Come on up!" Percy taunted. "Let's bring this into the air!"

Thalia summoned the air and they obeyed, ricocheting her onto the chains in the air and clung on. However, she'd made the mistake of looking down and vertigo seized her; her grip on the chains loosened and she would've fallen off if Percy hadn't grabbed her and steadied her. Thalia shot her a grudging grateful look before they turned back to their mutual two girls shouted taunts, luring the giant to climb after them. _Fool's mistake_, Percy muttered as their weapons went through him and watched as he disintegrated, the earth unable to help him because he was out of their reach.

The two girls landed nimbly on their feet and appraised each other warily. Their stare-off competition was only broken when Luke gave the order and ordered the demigods to be killed. Ethan took his cue, retrieving his sword and fleeing along with Annabeth and Rachel who was being guided by Mrs. O'Leary that Thalia had summoned once she'd snapped out of her reverie.

As she was leaving, she turned back thought she saw golden eyes gazing at her group with something akin to sadness. The words Hera'd spoken when the Queen of the gods had paid them a visit earlier in the Labyrinth resounded in the daughter of Zeus' mind:

_The daughter of Kronos is not who you think she is_.

**AxP**

* * *

**A/N: **I posted a lot of new stories. Check it out okay? And as for Thalia's pairing, an OC – your OC? You can submit one with his personality, powers and looks – would also do. Or do you want a cannon character.


	25. XXV

**Daughter Of Time**

**XXV**

* * *

Despite being allies—however reluctant that was—in the Labyrinth battling against Antaeus, they were now enemies once more, predictably. Their armistice was exactly what it was: temporary. So, really, Thalia shouldn't be so surprise to see that it was the daughter of Kronos leading the army of monsters to storm Camp Half-Blood.

"Raze the place to the ground!" the daughter of Zeus heard Percy's voice above the carnage around them. "Leave no survivors but those that are willing to serve Lord Kronos!"

"Percy!" a voice that Thalia dimly recognized as Connor's came from somewhere in front of her. "Why are you doing this?" he yelled, fury that was so rare in a child of Hermes flaring in his eyes. "This was once your home too!"

Percy's snort was loud and clear even in the midst of the noisy, bloody battle. "This was never my home," she murmured.

"I know we've been cold to you in the first place but you still lived here—" the son of Hermes tried vainly to argue but the daughter of Kronos interrupted him coldly.

"That's not what I meant," she grumbled before pointing a delicate finger to the demigods' right. "Shouldn't you be helping your girlfriend instead of arguing with me over something I won't change my mind about?"

Thalia 's head whipped to where Percy was pointing and her heart plummeted when she saw Annabeth and her siblings being overwhelmed by Kampe. Percy was smiling coldly without a hint of remorse. The ancient monster roared, the bear around her belt snarling and swallowing a son of Athena's head in one gulp. The campers screamed as the demigod's body fell to the ground limply, noticeably headless and Percy threw her head back and laughed.

Rage like no other bubbled within the daughter of Zeus when she heard the daughter of Kronos' cold laughter—the sheer pleasure the younger half-blood felt when a demigod died disgusted Thalia. She turned towards her army and yelled out words of encouragement. "You can do it! Defend Camp!" she shouted before she turned to the shell-shocked brunette. "Connor! Go help Annie, leave Percy to me!"

Connor looked reluctant but he did as told, diving into the skirmish. Thalia turned back to her enemy just in time to see her slaughter a child of Demeter—judging by the vines on the demigod's hand—without so much as batting an eyelash. The demigods of Camp Half-Blood slaughtered the monsters but knocked out the demigods, not wanting to kill. The half-bloods of the opposition army had no such qualms; killing the camper mercilessly. Thalia wondered what made them so bitter to kill their own siblings, cousins and some nephews and aunts (eg: she was Annabeth's aunt, Athena and her were half-siblings after all) in the eccentric family tree of the Olympians.

The daughter of Zeus yelled and lightning crackle, coming down from the heavens and shooting out towards where Percy stood, about to kill another young demigod. The daughter of Kronos jumped back to avoid the thunder.

She frowned at Thalia but didn't attack, turning away and ducking when Chiron's arrow flew past her. Her golden eyes gleamed maliciously when she spotted her centaur half-brother. She darted after him, sword in hand, recalling that Kronos had ordered her to kill his son and she'd gladly do it.

Thalia ran after them, stopping here and there to assist her fellow demigods. When she caught up to the children of Kronos, she felt like screaming. Chiron was on the ground, a large gash wound on his horse back, his old brown eyes were wide with apprehension as Percy raised her sword.

"No!" she yelled, noting that a few demigods were also running towards their trainer in a vain hope of saving him from the inevitable blow from Percy. Their screams however, were outmatched by an eerie and hight pitched sound—Thalia thought it was a scream, howl and song rolled into one, a cacophony of unearthliness and Thalia felt odd when she heard that. The blue-eyed girl turned towards the source and was shocked to see it coming from Grover who was glowing an unearthly hue.

The next thing she knew, Percy had stumbled into her. The daughter of Kronos didn't look so confident anymore; fear, confusion, disbelief were evident in her eyes as she pushed Thalia away and ran after her army of monsters and demigods that were quickly retreating.

Thalia didn't know what happened, was confused when Grover explained the power passed onto him by Pan the wild god, but was even more confused when she recalled how Percy's skin felt like under hers and the pain when she ran into her.

It was as if Percy's skin was made of clay or metal, so hard under the grip.

Thalia wondered why.

* * *

**Interlude I: The Stolen Chariot**

Thalia sighed, bored, tapping her pen repeatedly on her cheek for the lack of action. Her blue eyes blinked at the bored, watching as the chalk-written words turn into meaningless spaghetti and sighed again, turning her eyes out of the window before she suffered permanent eye damage.

She saw nothing of interest out there: grey, tall, buildings, clear blue sky (her father must be in a good mood, and hopefully, it wasn't due to getting laid because having another child of the Big Three in the picture was not nice) and a sunny sun, and a bulky tall girl fighting off monster birds. Yup, totally normal—

What?

Thalia's head whipped around so fast she nearly had a whiplash. "Clarisse?" she murmured in disbelief the moment she recognized the girl. She hesitated, making a split second decision, before she raised her hand and put on her most sickly face. "Teacher, I feel like puking! May I go to the toilet?"

"GO!" The teacher certainly didn't feel like having a puddle of puke on the floor.

She ran like the wind, skidding down long corridors and slamming open doors and pushing people out of her way till she reached the alleyway where she last saw Clarisse retreating into. She poke her head in and ducked when a sword slide past her.

"Hey!" she cried, drawing out her own spear and shield. She stopped herself before she could attack the sword-wielder the moment she saw it was the brown-haired girl. "Clarisse," Thalia greeted, lowering her shield but jabbing her spear forward, spearing the last bird in sight. "What're you doing in front of my school?"

"Your school?" the daughter of Ares scowled heavily. "Great, just my luck." Without another word, she turned and stomp off.

Thalia remained stunned for about a few seconds before she yelled out, "Hey!" and ran after the girl. She didn't care much about classes since the next class was a useless subject and the teacher didn't bother taking attendances anyway so she wouldn't get into trouble with her uncle anytime soon. "What're you doing out of Camp Half-Blood? You on a quest or something?"

"Gods, shut up!" Clarisse glared at her, slumping down onto a nearby bench. "You're so damned annoying! What makes this your business anyway?"

Thalia snorted, sitting herself down by the bigger girl's side. "Hey, this is my neighborhood and I'm gonna protect it. Including the annoying teachers and students of course. So, what's wrong?"

"My brothers played a prank on me," the daughter of Ares spat out after a long moment of hesitance, fiddling somewhat nervously with the zipper of her coat. Thalia instantly knew something was wrong because Clarisse was never nervous. Never.

"Which brother? Max, Matthew or—"

"It's not them," Clarisse interrupted miserably. "If it's them, I could've beaten them up. I meant my immortal brothers, Phobos and Deimos." Thalia tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for more. Sighing, Clarisse spilled the beans.

Thalia rubbed her jaw tiredly. "Okay, so we go find them and beat the shit out of them—"

"Why're you trying to help me? We're not even friends."

Thalia frowned, the other girl was right. But another thing was, Thalia hated bullies—immortal or mortal she didn't give a damn for the races—and she'd very much love to give such people a piece of her mind. Besides, Clarisse was still a camper, still was family and Thalia was very territorial of those in Camp she was in command of, no way was she letting the sons of Ares beat this girl around. Before the bright-eyed girl could even say such thoughts out loud, a new very annoying voice called out through the empty park.

"Aw—look, I think she's been crying!"

Thalia's eyes scanned their surroundings, following the source of the echoing voice before she finally settled on the only other person in the park. The immortal god looked about sixteen or seventeen, eyes the color of purple flames and tanned, scarred skin. He wore ratty jeans and black t-shirt; a bandanna covered his head of dark hair and he had a knife strapped to his belt. Thalia knew he was immortal but she didn't know which god was he until Clarisse snapped, "Phobos!" she was seething. "You jerk! Give back the chariot!"

"You lost it, sweetheart," the immortal son of Ares teased. "Don't look at me?" he added innocently, disappearing from sight.

Clarisse practically snarled, drawing her sword and charging her older brother only to realize he was gone. Thalia blinked and whirled around herself, her instincts screaming for her to draw her weapon which she did. Phobos was unnecessarily close to her and she didn't like how he was invading her personal space. She settled this problem by pointing the tip of her spear at the male's throat.

"You better give her back the chariot," the daughter of Zeus threatened, applying more pressure to the tip, watching as the skin sink in more. "Or I'll get mad."

Phobos sneered, looking as tough as one could be when they have a pointy object at their throat. "Just because you're the daughter of Zeus doesn't mean everyone have to follow your orders, chicky." Then he turned his attention back to his mortal half-sister, a grin splitting his face the moment she started screaming and backing away, hacking at thin air as if fighting off an invisible enemy which baffled Thalia.

"What're you doing to her?" the blue-eyed girl snarled, pressing the tip harder but the god disappeared from her. She stumbled before whirling around to see the immortal being leaning on the telephone pole casually.

"Relax," he said as the glow from his eyes faded. "I'm just showing little sister what she fears the most."

Clarisse stumbled and would've fell if Thalia hadn't caught her arm and steadied her. The daughter of Zeus scowled at the son of Ares. "Oi, you scumbag, tell us where the chariot is, now!" Sparks danced off her spear threateningly but Phobos' smile merely widened.

"If you want to find the chariot, come and get it. It's across the water. You'll find it where the little sea-animals live," Phobos smiled crookedly before he snapped his fingers, his form dissipating into sands. "Too bad neither of you belonged there."

Thalia rubbed her eyes free of the irritating sand, scowling, crossing her arms and thinking where the place he described could be. She wasn't knowledgeable to places connected to water or anything aquatic but there was this one place she knew of; she had fond memories of this place along with her little brother and mother (it was one of the very few).

"Come on," she said to Clarisse. "I've got a vague idea where the chariot might be."

**TxC**

Fortunately, Thalia managed to get some tickets (via, Mist trick) for them to get to Staten Island. Unfortunately, she was just a child back when she came here and she'd forgotten just how big the supposedly small island was. She sighed, she had no more money and just their luck, the bus driver here was a Seer who could see through the Mist. In the end, upon Clarisse's haste and insistence, they ended up walking through the confusing turn of streets and many uphills.

They, of course, didn't have money to get into the zoo and had to sneak in ("See that couple over there?" Thalia said, snapping her fingers before the counter girl's eyes. "We're with them, get them to pay for it. Thanks!) which was quite easy with Thalia's skills on manipulating the Mist. What she didn't know was how to find the chariot in the middle of the zoo.

"There it is."

It was sitting at a crossroads between the petting zoo and the sea otter pond: a large golden and red chariot tethered to four black horses. The chariot was decorated with amazing detail. It would've been beautiful if all the pictures hadn't shown people dying painful deaths. The horses were breathing fire out of their nostrils and for a moment, Thalia thought it was cool until she remembered that those horses could kill her by roasting her or trampling her underhoof.

"Where're the jackasses?" Thalia muttered, eyes darting around warily. This had to be a trap.

"Don't care," Clarisse muttered in response as she hurried towards the chariot. She reached out to take the reins but within a few inches, the horses reared up and kicked their legs. Phobos and Deimos materialized on the chariot, laughing and smirking, both donned in pitch-black armor.

"Game on!" Deimos yelled, sticking his tongue out childishly. Clarisse stumbled back when Phobos lashed the horses and charged the chariot right in Thalia's direction.

The daughter of Zeus yelped, turning and ran, glancing back once in awhile to see the distance and she was alarmed to learn of their nearing distance. She jumped, stumbling into some sea mammals island, wincing at how their snarled at her, looking ready to bite her head off. Wisely, Thalia jumped out of their island before they chew her out and continued running.

Behind her, she saw Clarisse tackling Deimos out of the chariot and down they tumbled. Thalia winced, that had to be painful but she was also in serious trouble as Phobos didn't seem intent on slowing down anytime soon. She sprinted towards the aquarium with Phobos on his chariot hot on her heels.

"Hey, Thalia, I've got a surprise for you!"

She made the mistake of turning out of curiosity. Her jaw dropped when she saw the chariot melting, the horses turning to steel and folding into each other like clay figures being crumpled. The chariot refashioned itself into a black metal box with caterpillar treads, a turret, and a long gun barrel. A tank. Thalia recognized it from her history class, on a textbook or some other book. Seeing her shocked look, Phobos grinned from the top of the World War II panzer.**  
**

"Say cheese!" he laughed maliciously as the gun fired with a deafening _BOOM! _and Thalia just had the time to roll out of the way before the place exploded.

She winced as a particularly hard chunk of debris fell on her head but she shrugged it off and got to her feet. She glanced back and saw Phobos re-aiming his gun. She was about to flee when she noticed a child bawling for his mother. She didn't hesitate for a moment to dive forward, pushing the child out of the way in the pandemonium and realizing she was going to be blasted to bits.

But time slowed. Even so, Thalia felt her eyes widen in slow-motion, the only person she knew would interfere and would have such powers—

Someone wrenched her arm painfully and she was jerked out of the way, just as time resumed. Phobos blinked in confusion, glancing at Thalia's direction, before he roared in rage, "Daughter of Kronos!"

"Guilty as charged," the golden-eyed girl sneered back, fearless and contempt in her eyes. She crossed her arms and studied the Olympians' children. "Such terrible luck, Thalia Grace, wherever I am, you're there."

"I should be the one saying that!"

Percy smiled blithely, "Glad to be ruining your day," she remarked casually, her eyes not leaving Phobos' as she spoke. "What do you say we beat him up."

Thalia grunted, drawing her spear and shield, smirking when she saw Phobos reared back up in fear. She wanted to laugh at the irony, the god of fear fearing two girls so much younger than him. Percy lunged first, her sword a glowing punishment as she showered blow after blow on Phobos.

Thalia followed suit and it didn't take her long to realize that Phobos had a bark bigger than his bite. He wasn't even a decent fighter and Clarisse alone could've done this loser in. Certainly, it didn't take long for Percy to dump Phobos and Deimos into a heap on the ground while Thalia assisted Clarisse.

"Scram, losers," Percy sneered, cherry lips curled in satisfaction as both thoroughly soaked gods struggled to their feet, defeated and humiliated. "What an eyesore."

"You'll regret this," Phobos promised the daughter of Kronos who coolly ignored him. Then he turned on the demigods. "Fraternizing with the enemy, eh? I won't let you get away with this! You've made immortal enemies, children, beware!" The half-bloods turned just as both siblings glowed and disappeared.

Everything was silent until Clarisse broke it. She narrowed her brown eyes suspiciously at the new arrival. "What are you doing here, anyway, Prissy?"

"On a school trip," Percy answered, jabbing her thumb at the group of gathering teenagers. She glanced at the chariot then at the girls then smirked as she nodded towards the setting sun. "Good luck returning the chariot on time, girlies." And she turned her back on them, walking away, her long hair swaying behind her, flowing with the gentle breeze.

Thalia scowled at her arrogance but she was right. "Come on, Clarisse—"

"Where can we go?" the brown-eyed girl snapped back miserably. "How can we get there on time?"

Thalia could practically feel the daughter of Kronos' eyes boring into her back and she gritted her teeth at the silent challenge. She climbed onto the chariot beside Clarisse, an entirely insane idea sprouting in the back of her mind. "Ride forward, Clarisse!" Said girl was so desperate she didn't protest and as for Thalia, she merely closed her eyes and concentrated on the air particles around her.

When she felt them resisting, she hardened her resolve, forcefully pulling them together under the chariot. When wind whistled in her ear, Thalia at first thought she'd failed in making a road in the middle of the air until she heard Clarisse let out a whoop of joy.

Thalia felt a grin blossoming on her face; she'd never liked being in air much but this was a special exception, she supposed. Belatedly, she turned her head to see whether or not the daughter of Kronos was watching. But she saw no one. She shrugged, uncaring about what her enemy's daughter was doing.

* * *

**Interlude II: The Sword of Hades**

Thalia grumbled as she trudged through the plains of the Underworld. That's right, she was trapped, hopelessly on a quest she was reluctant to take on in the first place with her younger cousin, the son of Hades, Nico. They weren't on very good terms with one another, especially after Bianca's death.

He blushed furiously at times when they conversed, she supposed it was due to anger and so she resolved to talk lesser around him. But the silence was suffocating at times. The daughter of Zeus was a social creature, she wasn't used to silence and she was ADHD, she wondered how Nico could remain so silent.

She knew she couldn't.

Thalia crouched down, brows furrowed in contemplation as she and Nico faced another obstacle, the River Lethe. Deadly, one drop would wipe out their memories and neither of them wanted such to happen. For the umpteenth time, Thalia sighed spitefully. The daughter of Zeus didn't even know why she was still here, questing against her will when she should be celebrating Christmas at home.

Oh, right, the Sword of Hades infused with a Key of Hades. If that happened to fall into the wrong hands—like Kronos for example—then they were doomed; the ability to raise the dead endlessly would be an unfair advantage. If she refused to work together, the world will be doomed. Also, she felt guilty for just leaving Nico on his own if she ditched the quest. After what happened to Bianca, his older sister, she felt like she should be responsible for him now. So she couldn't abandon him to anything out of guilt; she swore to watch out for him as best as she can.

"What should we do?" Nico's soft voice carried across the rush of the river to her ears.

She sighed again. "Maybe I can throw my spear with a rope tied to it and we can walk on it?" she suggested, sounding doubtful herself.

Nico stared at her as if she was an idiot and suddenly, she felt like a schoolgirl meeting her crush as her face flushed crimson. She turned away abruptly, hoping that the boy didn't see her flaming cheeks; she kicked herself mentally, wondering what was wrong with her.

"I don't think it'd work," Nico finally remarked.

Thalia stared at him for a moment, before realizing that they don't have much time. On impulse, she snapped her fingers and a mini tornado blew out from under Nico. The son of Hades yelled, losing his cool for a moment, as he was thrown up into the air and onto the other side of the river, landing on his bum on the ground. He glowered at the older girl but otherwise, said nothing.

Thalia snapped her fingers again and repeated the same to her.

At least being in the air had its advantages even thought it terrified her.

**NxT**

"Tsk, tsk," That familiar taunting voice drew her away from the lulling voice, from her mother's ghost. Not completely, Thalia felt as if she was being sucked into her mother's ghost, unable to look away or do anything. "How pitiful, you can't even resist Melinoe's weak illusion? Eh, and they call you hero, savior of Olympus?"

Thalia blinked her blue eyes rapidly, and if she wasn't hallucinating, she thought she saw Percy sitting before her. The daughter of Kronos smiled at her but it was cold and fixated as if it she was merely smiling from a photograph. "What are you doing here?" the brunette demanded.

Percy shrugged, slowly, glancing around at the void of grey surrounding them; the golden-eyed girl seemed to be sitting on something non-visible and she looked perfectly comfortable. "How on earth should I know? I've been here for quite a while, unable to do anything but dream and stare. This is the first time someone's been here. So, again, what are you doing here?"

"I - I was fighting Melione, trying to get back the Sword of Hades—"

"Ethan's running," Percy said seriously, smiling blithely, as her form started dissipating.

Thalia blinked, rolling out of the way just as a sword descended upon her. She retaliated, her spear deflecting Iapetus'—when did he join the battle? Why didn't she realize it sooner, was she that out of it?—spear. They continued like this, parrying and thursting back and forth, neither gaining an upper-hand on the other; Thalia snuck a few glances at Nico and she noticed that he was handling Ethan rather well with his skeletons of the dead.

He seemed to be wrapping up the fight.

She should too but she just didn't know how. Thalia cried out, her back hitting the ground as Iapetus bore down on her. She gritted her teeth from the sheer effort of not crumbling under the pressure. She angled the spear but she couldn't throw him off her, just as she thought all hope was lost, an insisting sound nagged at her.

The River! The yellow-ish water of the river Lethe seemed to lull them in and Thalia knew it was her last chance to win this battle. With the last bit of her strength, she kicked Iapetus upwards, using leverage and throwing him off her. The butt of her spear followed, jabbing him in the chest and sending him crashing into the river.

She sighed, but much to her shock, large and scarred hands clawed at the riverbed, before pulling themselves out of the water. She tensed, preparing herself for battle again when Iapetus plopped down on the ground, glancing around with a childish innocence in his eyes. "Eh, where am I?" he asked the first person he saw, which happened to be Thalia. "Are we friends? What's my name?"

"Uh, yeah." Thalia lied glibly. "And your name's Bob."

Somehow, somewhere, in another time, she swore she heard Percy laugh at her.

* * *

**AxP**

Thalia hated wars. Especially wars concerning gods versus Titans. The chances the gods will lose were very great and Thalia was terrified of the approaching Prophecy. Despite the advice and prophecies Hestia and Rachel had given her, she was still confused.

She was scared she'd make the the wrong choice because she was the most impulsive of the demigods and children of Zeus usually make the wrong choices. Especially choices on the important ones. She wasn't ready to confront Janus despite her friends' reassurances that she'd do okay—she also knew they were saying that partly to convince themselves _and where is Percy_?

Thalia hadn't seen her arch-nemesis anywhere. No matter where her dreams took her, she never once dreamed of Percy and her location. Kronos didn't say anything when on one encounter, Thalia demanded that of him. But he was frowning; at least that meant something bad had happened to her right? The daughter of Zeus hoped so, that way they have one less powerful enemy to deal with.

When her Uncle Hades showed up with the army of undead and two goddesses in his chariot, Thalia had hoped that things will continue to go uphill for them. Unfortunately but predictably, the answer was no. And that was how Thalia found herself leaving Annabeth trapped under the statue of Hera—damn her for interfering with them!—and running along with Connor and Grover to the throne room of the gods where Kronos was causing mass destruction.

The Titan whirled around to face them when he sensed their approach. Instead of the joy or triumph look of victory one was supposed to have when they're close to causing the world end like any villain would, Kronos was scowling in displeasure.

Thalia'd expected some speech of sorts but he didn't say anything like that. Instead, he was spitting and cursing them and their immortal parent. She wondered what could make him so riled up, he was in the core of the enemy's base, had a very great chance of crushing them like bugs yet he was acting as if he'd lost. Either he'd lost the war or he'd lost something precious to him...

"Where is she?" the Titan Lord snarled, slamming the butt of his scythe onto the ground, causing a fissure. "I am giving you demigods one more chance; I'll spare your pitiful lives if you tell me where my daughter is—Now!"

His roar nearly sent the half-bloods flying but Thalia managed to hold on—Grover managed to with his hooves and all—whereas Connor went flying. "What is that lunatic talking about?" Thalia hissed to her satyr friend who was trembling in fear before the Titan Lord.

"P–Percy, he's asking about her," her friend answered nervously when Kronos' eyes narrowed as he advanced on them. "He's feeling worried and enraged that she's gone."

"Gone?" the daughter of Zeus echoed suspiciously, wondering what had happened. A few puzzled clicked in her mind but she still felt as if it wasn't complete. Not yet, she thought as she turned to face Kronos. "We don't have her," she announced boldly. "The last time any of us saw her was at the Battle of the Labyrinth"—_Not really_, she thought, recalling the times she'd met Percy out of the quest—"And now, Kronos, you'll die at my hands."

The Titan Lord sneered before throwing his head back and laughed. "Such bravery," he mocked, making Luke's face contort into an even ugly sneer. "Come get it, demigods."

Thalia and her friends exchanged a grim look before they all charged.

But even after she'd took a dip in the River Styx, Thalia still wasn't able to defeat Kronos. So concentrated on her enemy, she did not notice when someone placed a hand on her shoulder until the last minute. She jerked and made the mistake of turning around.

"Percy...?" she murmured. "What—"

"Splendid timing, daughter," Kronos said, smiling a genuine smile now when he saw his daughter. Grover did not like how humane Kronos could be because he felt waves of relief from the Titan of time when he saw his daughter safe and sound—but the satyr regressed because no one was born truly a monster; its what they do discern their species. "Now," he continued. "Kill the daughter of Zeus."

Thalia seethed, realizing that she'd fallen into a trap. She tried to jerk away from the younger and smaller girl but the golden-eyed girl's grip was made out of steel—literally. Percy was scrutinizing her in a way that she hadn't done before, as if seeing her for the first time. She released Thalia and pushed something into her hands.

Annabeth's dagger.

Thalia's nostrils' flared. "What have you done to Annabeth?!" she yelled.

"Nothing," Percy answered coolly. "She told me to give this to you as I was passing by."

Kronos' smile had already dropped when he saw his daughter conversing with the enemy "Daughter...?" he called, somewhat hesitantly.

Percy didn't answer, she smiled at Thalia, "You only have one chance when Luke take over."

When she said that, all Hades broke loose. Thalia yelled, lightning ricocheting off her and towards Kronos who was barelling towards them—anger evident in his eyes at his daughter. She dimly registered pushing Percy away and locking blades with Kronos. Annabeth's dagger against Kronos' scythe.

"Luke," she gritted her teeth in pain, the strain of standing toe to toe with a Titan Lord taking its toll on her. "I know you're in there, somewhere. Stop him! I know you can do this, you don't want to hurt us do you?"

It was as if a spell had been broken when Luke—_Luke_Luke_Luke_, not Kronos—smiled and released her of the burden of killing him.

And she smiled back to even as the golden light enveloped her. Searing and hot pain coursing through her being.

**LxT**

Apollo was the first among the Olympians to reach Olympus—his brethren far behind once they registered that Kronos had been defeated by their children and their thrones of power saved. But he didn't care for that—all that mattered was Percy and only her.

The golden doors to Olympus was thrown open and Apollo—accompanied by Annabeth whom he'd freed earlier because he knew Percy wouldn't be happy if he left her best friend to the dead—entered to a sight of tragedy The vessel of Kronos was the first person he saw and he felt pity for Hermes because his favorite son was dead now. Then he turned to where the demigods were gathered: around a girl that was glowing golden too.

"Percy!"

Apollo roughly shove the satyr away in his haste to get to the demi-titan who was already crumbling. Golden eyes cracked open weakly to stare into his sky blue ones.

"Never thought..." she murmured. "that I'd have the guts to defy them."

"Defy who?" Annabeth asked softly, eyes rimmed red and she looked like she might break down crying again as she came over to them after she'd made sure Luke was dead—neither of them knew what the two blonde were talking about before Luke passed into the Underworld.

"Lord Kronos and Percy Jackson..." the girl answered. The moment she said that, they all knew the girl couldn't possibly be Percy Jackson because the daughter of Kronos was loyal to death and she never cried, never would've shown such weakness—the Percy they knew wouldn't betray her father like this girl did and she certainly never showed weakness such as crying.

"Who are you?" Apollo demanded harshly, not caring that the rest of the Olympians had arrived and was studying the scene. "Where's Percy? The real one?"

The fake Percy's body shimmered, the golden glow fading, taking away the gold in the girl's eyes and replacing them with the emerald color of some potions Annabeth had seen children of Hecate concocting before. The golden streaks in the girl's hair disappeared, leaving a mass of messy dark hair that was _just not Percy's_.

Connor gasped. "You're...I know you—you're the daughter of Hecate, Lou Ellen!" he turned to his friends. "She used to live in the Hermes Cabin, on our side...until she disappeared about a year ago!"

"Daughter, what has happened?"

The demigods all raised their heads—including Apollo—when Athena addressed her daughter, a puzzled frown on her face.

Annabeth rose, held her head high like a true child of Athena should, and announced in a grim but choked voice that Luke and Lou Ellen was dead and that Percy Jackson was missing and Kronos had been defeated. Shrouds for the demigods were given by their respective parent.

Apollo was gently ushered away by his twin sister when the Three Fates themselves came and took Luke's body. Only one thought resounded in his mind as he settled back down on his throne: he was going to find Percy.

**AxP**

Annabeth found Thalia brooding under her pine tree weeks later after Kronos' defeat. The daughter of Athena mustered a weak smile and settled herself down beside one of her best friend. Both girls bathed in the silent company of one another before Thalia broke the silence.

"Hey, Annabeth...do you think Percy's alive somewhere out there?"

"Yeah, of course she's alive and kicking. I don't know who took her though."

"It doesn't matter. We'll find her."

"We definitely will pay her back for all the troubles she's left us."

**AxP**

* * *

**A/N: **Is it too crappy and rushed? Hope not. End of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians and onwards to the Heros of Olympus series!

Do you think Thalia and Will Solace will make a good couple? I hope you guys will review more - I wanna reach the 1k+ mark!


	26. XXVI

**Daughter Of Time**

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Never Really.**

* * *

Percy felt as if someone had stuffed her head with hard rocks and clubbed it a thousand times over. If one can imagine how that feel, they'd know how much pain her head is in now. Her right hand twitched, moving up to rub her throbbing head. Or, tried to anyway. Someone was holding her hand rather tightly so she couldn't move.

Her golden eyes snapped open in alarm, the last thing she remember: a searing glow before pain overwhelmed her and—

"Percy?"

She looked up, disoriented but alarmed, her fingers twitched to her pocket, knowing that she had something there that could protect her but she just couldn't remember. Everything was so damned fuzzy. She knew someone was looking at her with concern so she decided to respond them. "What?" she demanded tonelessly, her other unoccupied hand reaching up to soothe the ache in her head.

"Are you okay?" the same person asked, voice filled with genuine concern. "I didn't know you had problem on vehicles."

"I don't," Percy stressed, blinking blearily and it didn't take long for her vision to come into focus. She took in the features person that had spoken to her first, noting that the person was a girl around her age. Kaleidoscope eyes that were as odd as her unnerving golden eyes, skin as tan as hers and hair as dark; she supposed the girl was pretty too. Sitting by her side was an elf.

Percy blinked. No, she realized, not an elf but a Lation guy. He was hyperactive, with the way he kept moving about. He didn't look extraordinary with his brown hair and eyes and fair skin. The most notable thing about him was his long and nimble fingers fiddling with a piece of metal. Percy lost interest quickly but when someone beside her groaned and shifted, squeezing her fingers tighter, she turned.

A faint memory jagged her from reality: of a boy that seemed to glow gold with eyes of the sky. Then, a girl around her age with blonde hair and grey-silver eyes, intense but pretty. Another was of a man, smirking smugly on his golden throne—she took his detail in a second and could already tell he had to be her father because of their shared features.

She blinked and the memory faded, replaced by names: Apollo, Annabeth and Kronos. Another memory fought against her and she saw another young man with blonde hair and blue eyes; Luke. When she saw the boy by her side, she thought it was Luke at first but then she realized his blonde hair was cut too neatly and he didn't possess the scar Luke had on his face—the memory of how he'd gotten it was fuzzy though.

The blonde by her side—she seemed to be surrounded by blondes—blinked and she couldn't help but feel suspicious and dread when electric blue eyes settled themselves on her. Those eyes—familiar yet she was sure she had never met him—reminded her of someone unpleasant but she couldn't place her finger on it.

That thought made her realize something: she didn't remember anything except those few people and herself. And aside from that, she only knew their faces and names and she was barely touching the surface of their relationship. She couldn't remember why she only remember them and what she'd done with them. Whatever memory aside from their names and face was something she couldn't recall and it terrified.

Calm down, she snarled at her fluttering heart.

"Jason, Percy, are you two okay? You're both so pale, what happened?"

Aside from the fact I couldn't remember why I'm here with a bunch of strangers? Percy blinked when she realized she'd said that out loud. "Shit," she cursed, rubbing her head, trying to repair her motor skills.

"You don't remember anything too?"

"What do you mean by too?" Percy's eyes narrowed, despite the throbbing between her eyes and the general feeling that something was wrong.

"Jason woke up just now, not too long before you, told us he didn't remember anything before he passed out again." The elf-like boy said, frowning in concern. The golden-eyed girl suppose that it was a rare expression on his face because his lips twitched into a smile again despite the situation and she was tempted to slap the expression off.

"Who?"

"You really don't remember your own boyfriend?" the girl asked.

"Er, what?" the daughter of Kronos turned to see the blonde boy studying her intently, his eyes bore no recognition but something still bothered him. In silent agreement that things didn't feel right, they untangled one another's fingers. "I don't have a boyfriend. I don't even know my past or you guys."

"I'm Piper, this here is Leo and that's Jason—your boyfriend," the girl who introduced herself as Piper said, tone in disbelief before she turned to the blonde. "You remember her now?"

The two amnesiac teens shared a look before shaking their head.

But Piper was already rolling her eyes. "Just another one of your ploys I see," she grumbled much to Percy's confusion—though she'd never admit it. "Don't worry about them, Leo. They're just trying to mess with us."

"I don't think—" the boy known as Jason started saying but another new, harsher and rougher voice interrupted him.

The four teens turned their heads to look at the person that had spoken. A very, very short and grumpy-looking man dressed in a runner's suit was glaring at them—Percy didn't miss how his glare remained on her and Jason, unfamiliar eyes even though they were supposed to have been in this group for the whole semester.

"You four in the back, unless you want detention—"

"Coach Hedge!" Leo yelled back. "Can't hear ya. Why don't you use the mic?"

The coach grunted, seeming pleased to have a reason to use the thing. Percy stared at Leo with renewed wariness when the speaker announced 'the cow says moo' instead of whatever the coach had to say. They'd just earned themselves detention and the kids were making fun of them. Percy didn't remember anything but she knew her pride wouldn't let people laugh or tease her. She was dying to punch them in the face.

She gave them the stink eye, her lips curling in distaste. She was so busy glaring at them that she didn't notice that the bus had stopped until Jason tapped her shoulder. She turned her glare on him and bit out, "What."

"Uh...we're here," he said slowly, unsure as to how to speak to the girl that was supposed to be his girlfriend but looked like she might kill him.

Percy frowned, glaring out at the black clouds moving to cover the sun. "Yeah," she muttered without enthusiasm. "Let's go."

**JxP**

Waking up with a hot chick next to him, Jason supposed he should be feeling better but all he felt was unease and dread. Those feelings only multiplied tenfold when Coach Hedge had confronted him and Percy. But it was mixed with relief because someone finally realized that he didn't belong here. Percy didn't say anything but he could tell she was relieved too.

The coach squinted at the girl. "You look awfully familiar. Your name sounds famous. Who are you exactly? I have I a feeling I should know you."

Percy looked shattered. "I don't know," she said. "I really don't know anything anymore...but is that a monster?"

The two males whirled around to see what she was talking about. The torrent of wind picked up, nearly blowing them off their feet, making the bridge sway and upsetting their balance. Jason managed to make out Leo's form, yelling and thrashing as he flew past them.

"Leo!" he yelled, trying to reach him but Percy slapped his hand.

"Shut it and stop moving. Do you want to be blown away too?" Jason frowned at her and bit back the snarky remark at the tip of his tongue, he was about to jump up anyway when Coach Hedge rose to his feet—hooves, Jason realized when the short creature kicked away his shoes and revealed a pair of them.

"You're a faun," Jason murmured, the name clicking into his mind. But the moment he said it, the other two turned to look at him as if he was crazy. "What?" he asked, getting defensive.

"It's not a faun," Percy answered calmly. "That's the Roman name. The appropriate name is satyr."

"You two know too much to be mere stray demigods," the satyr remarked narrowing his beady black eyes at them. "I'll deal with you two later." He threw Jason his club. "Take the monster on while I go save the other boy."

"Good luck," Percy said though she didn't sound like she meant it, more like sarcasm laced her tone. Coach Hedge threw another look and shot Jason a look that screamed _beware of her_ before he hopped off to where Leo was screaming for help, clawing at the rocks to keep his grip against the merciless winds.

Jason was too busy taking in her face, trying to discern what it was about her that unnerved him when she suddenly shot up from her crouching stance, whipping Jason in the face with her long brown hair. He spat it out and turned to see what she was looking at.

His eyes widened. "Piper!" he yelled, shooting to his feet. But Percy was faster, she grabbed the club and threw it at him. It smacked the monster wearing the mask of a human boy, Dylan.

Cute, had an attitude _and_ violent: just Jason's type of girl. He wished he could remember when she'd been his girlfriend but now wasn't the time for such thoughts. The teens pushed forward, trying to reach Piper and Dylan. But the monster boy howled and his form ripped into shreds, turning into an almost insubstantial tornado.

Piper was blown away but Percy lunged and caught her, throwing her back but the momentum was too much. The brunette tumbled off the ledge and all Jason could do was stare at her in horror. Only when the satyr with Leo in tow landed before him, screaming at him to get her when he snapped into action, jumping off the bridge ignoring Piper's screams.

His body slammed into Percy's in midair and he could hear her choke as the breath was knocked out of her. "What the hell?" she yelled through the roars of the rushing winds. "What are _you_ doing here?" She looked at Jason as if he was a nuisance and not someone who was trying to save her life.

"Saving you!"

"And how do you suppose to do that, you fool?" Percy snarled. "Now we'll both die!"

Jason's every instinct screamed at him to prove her wrong. He wrapped his arms around her lean figure—ignoring her protests—and closed his eyes, concentrating on the winds around them. Oh how he wished the wind would cushion their fall and stop—

Everything was silent. Jason dared to crack one blue eye open. He blinked and opened both eyes fully when realized they had stopped and was now floating in mid-air. He gasped. "How?"

"You can control wind?" Golden eyes eyed him suspiciously, assessing this new threat. "This ability sounds familiar..." she muttered, looking down at the earth but then she looked back up. "We have to go up."

Jason totally agreed with her. He couldn't just leave Leo, Piper and the other students defenseless up there. He imagined the winds pushing them both up and they obeyed. Percy leapt out of his arms the moment they were close enough. She looked as uncomfortable as he felt. She fiddled with her silver bracelet, frowning at them as if sensing something wrong before her hand crept to her pocket.

Jason found himself doing the same thing but while Percy had pulled out a ballpoint pen, he'd pulled out a golden coin. Based entirely on instinct, he flipped the coin and it morphed into a golden sword in mid-air. He turned to see Percy holding a glowing bronze sword, but she wasn't looking at him nor did she heed Leo's mutterings of hallucination.

She deflected an invisible blow from the mini tornado before her and slashed. The tornado dissipated Jason did the same thing, but instead of slashing, he stabbed—finding the style to be more efficient and his little monster disappeared into the wind too.

Dylan howled at them in frustration. He snarled. "If I can't have you two, I'll settle for this pretty one." He lunged for Piper and Jason yelled out in alarm.

Fortunately for Piper, Coach Hedge was close and he jumped into intercept the monster. "Over my dead body, cupcake!" he was shouting over the winds. "I won't let you touch them!"

Dylan the storm spirit yelled something but it was lost in the wind as both satyr and monster disappeared into the funnel in the clouds, taking away the gloom and revealing the beaming sun. Jason wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not because the sun seemed to spill more onto Percy, making her skin and hair glow gold, making her eyes more vivid and prettier and—

She suddenly looked up and it jarred Jason out of his thoughts. He blinked, tapping his head, he had to be going crazy. No way was he interested in the foul mouthed girl—because she'd cursed a lot in the past hour and he learned more than appropriate.

He switched his gaze up to the sky too, squinting when he saw flying horses descending upon them with a chariot being pulled. The chariot landed but a blonde girl that occupied the vehicle before had jumped down even before it could properly land.

The blonde haired grey eyed girl drew a bronze dagger but her stance relaxed when she set her eyes on Percy. She started running towards them and Jason was thinking what a bad idea it was to run when holding a dangerous weapon when the grey-eyed girl tackled Percy in a hug, laughing and repeating her name and how she was safe.

Percy blinked before she smiled—the first smile Jason had ever seen on her face and he couldn't help but notice how her face seemed to glow like a million jewels under the sun—as she wrapped her arms around the blonde.

"Annabeth," she said, grinning. "It is you right?"

"Percy, thank the gods, I thought you died. How dare you pull that trick on us?" the girl known as Annabeth demanded, smile dropping as she glared at her friend.

"What trick?" Percy asked, baffled as the smile on her face fell too, along with everyone's mood.

"Where's Thalia?"

That name stirred something in Jason but before he could discern the emotion, Annabeth had already turned towards them, demanding they fill her up as to what had happened. Jason was forced to surmise what had happened because Piper and Leo were in shock and trembling, Percy had her arms crossed and was frowning at him, her lips pressed into a thin line.

When he was done, he subtly averted his gaze from Percy and Annabeth's intense stare—combined, they were terrifying. Doing so, he completely missed Percy's smirk.

Someday, he'd be regretting that. But looking back on it, in the future, he never really did.

**JxP**

* * *

**A/N: **Who should Annabeth or Piper be paired with other than Jason?


	27. XXVII

**Daughter Of Time**

**XXVII**

* * *

Finding out that he was a son of Zeus - he still thought something was wrong with his parentage though - and that the girl that he might have a tiny crush on was a daughter of Kronos, he felt slightly dimmed even as he was chosen to lead his own quest and might have a chance to be a hero.

Emphasis on the might - because before becoming a hero, one would have to face challenges that might (most definitely) kill you. Jason wasn't so thrilled to go on this quest; many things bugged him: the prophecy, the world's end, and the fact that Percy was mad at him. He knew she wanted to lead the quest but the Oracle and Chiron had chosen him instead of her.

He didn't think she'd do such a bad job as a leader, after all, she had lead a quest once when she was merely twelve years old and in her later years, she led an army - even though it was an army of monsters versus Olympus and the demigods, that still counted as leadership experience.

Jason was sure he could lead well too, and he swore to never let any of his comrades - he wasn't so sure about Percy though, she looked like someone who'd kill you if you let your guard down even for one moment - die on this quest as long as he was still breathing. But if he died before them though, well, best not to swear on the River Styx.

He sighed, trudging out into the cold night air; he didn't shudder at the icy wind, in fact, the element seemed to caressed his face, like a mother's touch. He sighed wistfully, wondering was his mother worrying about him now - did he have a mother even?

"What's with the long sigh?" A familiar snarky voice came from behind him and the son of Zeus nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to face the daughter of Kronos, an eyebrow cocked. "Well? Planning your death already?"

"No, of course not," Jason responded, feeling insulted. But Percy smirked as if she didn't believe him - or maybe she just wanted to rile him up, if that was her goal, she succeeded. "I'm just thinking about... my family."

"Family," Percy repeated flatly, her hand on her hip, she blinked slowly as if recalling something. "Fuck." Abruptly, she turned on her heel and ran down the small hill. Jason hesitated only for a moment before he darted after her.

"Hey, wait up! What's wrong?!"

"Keep it down, stupid," Percy snapped meanly, her steps slowing and growing silent as she reached the Big House. She glanced around rapidly before she opened the door to the right and crept in. Jason followed her but much less subtly, when he reached, he saw her punching numbers into the phone attached to the wall.

"Huh, interesting," he murmured, he didn't notice that before when he was having his talk with Chiron - well, he was pretty occupied with death threats and the looming end of the world threat. Percy shot him a glare, mouthing _keep it dow_n before she pressed the phone closer to her ear, lowering her voice to a whisper.

Jason knew she didn't want to be heard but how was it his fault the wind chose to blow her words into his ears? "Uh, mom?" the golden-eyed girl was saying. "Hey, its me Percy and as you can see - well, no, I mean as you can hear - it's me your daughter. I'm fine mom, I'm just going to be leaving on another quest, soon." Jason saw the older girl winced but she ploughed on. "Anyway, I'll be back in a few weeks time. Prepare my favorite dinner okay? Bye" - her voice cracked and Jason politely turned his head away and walked towards the door, exiting to give the girl her privacy but he caught her murmured words anyway - "I love you."

He shuddered at the three seemingly measly words. He wondered what did he have to do for him to earn such words from her. He knew he wanted to hear it from her lips, see it in her eyes and feel it in her touch. He heard more muffled words from inside and he deemed himself forgotten and unneeded; silently, he crept back to his cabin just as a harpy screeched at his closed door.

Whew, what a close call.

**JxP**

"Well, got a good night's sleep?" Percy shot Jason an irritated glare, she still looked rather sleepy so it didn't take long for the boy to realize she wasn't a morning person and seeing his bright attitude - he wanted to maintain a positive mindset and held hope that they would survive and save the world - irritated her already. Wow, hadn't even talked for a minute and there was that enmity between them. "Right," he said, choosing to remain silent but when he realized he didn't know where her cabin was, he asked, "Where did you sleep anyway, I don't think Kronos had a cabin here."

"Cabin Three," Surprisingly, Percy answered and there was no bite in her voice.

"Why would you be in Poseidon's cabin?" the boy asked, baffled.

"I'm his descendant, so that meant he's somewhat of a patron to me."

Before Jason could ask another question - taking advantage of the situation as she seemed to be in a neutral mood - a loud and metallic screech tore through the air. Both powerful half-bloods exchanged a glance before they darted towards where they heard a loud _thump!_ followed by screams.

Jason was about to attack the threat - which turned out to be some sort of metallic giant - but stopped when he recognized the familiar figure riding on top of the dragon.

"Heya, guys!" Leo Valdez greeted cheerily, waving his arm like he was some sort of celebrity - nevermind the fact he looked like he'd just crawled out of the drain - and he was covered from head to boot in greasy black oil and other unidentified substances. "Don't attack, man, the dragon's a friend - he's name is Festus!" Then he turned, unmistakably, to Jason. "You said I could join if get you a ride through the air, right? Well here'e what you ordered, my friend! Hope on aboard!"

"Leo!" Piper emerged from within the sea of crowd with Annabeth, their hair whipping wildly in the wind while Percy's hair only fluttered about, messy strands framing her face. "Amazing!"

"It won't be amazing when it malfunctioned and ate us all up," Percy muttered darkly but when Annabeth thawcked her upside the head, she spat out, "At least his name should be better - I mean, we're riding out on Happy the Dragon, seriously?" This elicited a laugh from the daughter of Athena, she wrapped her arms around her best friend.

"Be safe, okay, Percy?" They pulled back as Percy nodded, pulling her leather coat tighter around her. "I wish I could go but I gave Jason some pointers and I really have to look for Thalia. Good luck, stay safe, okay?"

"That's the second time, Annie," the brunette rolled her eyes but she grunted her assent when her friend glared at her. Percy turned towards Jason then back at the towering dragon. "Mind if you lift me up?"

Jason grinned, instead of giving her boost up, he swept her off her feet and jumped, the wind assisting them and they landed on the dragon's back safely. The campers cheered, some whistling cat calls. Percy slapped his chest but she didn't put much force into it. She glowered at him, huffing.

"You guys don't have to jump, y'know, I could've just asked Festus to lower himself!" And that's exactly what Leo did, allowing Piper to climb up. She settled herself behind Leo as he commanded his pet dragon to rise and with a flap of its mighty wings, they shot off into the sky.

Percy tumbled into Jason's chest. "How about a warning next time?" she snapped but much to her ire, Leo just shrugged, grinning ear-to-ear. Grumbling and cursing, Percy settled herself behind Piper and ordered Jason to sit behind - "In case we fell, catch us, sky spawn." - which he did so without protest and would've done so without orders.

"Anyway, cap'in, where're we goin'?"

"The snow city, Quebec," Jason said and he explained to them what Annabeth had told him. When he remarked that he didn't know how right Annabeth was, Percy snorted.

"It's Wise Girl's advice, just take it, she was never wrong." Jason was actually slightly amazed the proud daughter of Kronos would give such high praises to someone else. A part of him, jealous and proud and prideful, wanted to be held by such high regards as her too, in her eyes because she was a worthy opponent and nothing more.

"If you say so," he shrugged, ignoring the challenging look she shot him.

As they shot off into the distance, the sky rumbled disapprovingly and Percy suddenly pulled him closer. "Wha - " he may have protested but that didn't mean he minded their sudden closeness.

"Your father, needless to say, is not fond of me," Percy smiled tightly, mockingly. "Be my human shield."

"You owe me one."

She smiled wickedly. "We'll see about that."

**JxP**

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**A/N: Sorry for the late update - as you most have gussed already, its WRITER's BLOCK (terrible curse, man) - but your reviews motivated me to review and I hope it continue to do so!**


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